Please give in order for us to continue to help couples in a dire economic need. Financially needy couples need your help! Every dollar you give will be matched and every little bit helps! Giving a number of small gifts throughout the day helps our odds of winning an extra $1,000 each hour.
“We have been to different counseling sessions with some success. Our marriage was deeply in need of help! This weekend was such a blessing! I really believe you just saved another marriage. I cannot wait to share with our kids and our friends. A weekend filled with laughter, pain, tears, joy, forgiveness, and understanding. Powerful ~ powerful weekend for us both. THANK YOU!”
Our Scholarship Fund enables couples in a financially difficult situation to attend a Marriage Encounter free of charge. Watch our video and learn more.
What does that mean for you and Minnesota Marriage Encounter? It means that dollar for dollar you donate to us during Give to the Max Day is matched. When you donate $60.00, the amount is doubled. That’s $120.00, which is half a Marriage Encounter registration fee.
Please consider helping us reach our goal during Give to the Max Day, November 15, 2018. Early giving is underway. Your donation goes to our Scholarship Fund which helps couples in financial difficulty to attend a Marriage Encounter Weekend free of charge in Minnesota and surrounding states and strengthen their marriage.
Couples struggling financially are very grateful for your generous hearts! They are able to attend a Marriage Encounter free of charge to restore their hope, enrich their marriage and realize the dream of a lifetime marriage!
The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce and its members celebrated 45 years with us on May 11, 2017, with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony and hors-d’oeuvres. We would like to thank the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce and everyone who came to help us celebrate this wonderful event! Photography by Kristina Lynn Photography & Designs.
Marriage Encounter began in 1952 in Barcelona Spain, Fr Gabriel Calvo was struck with two moving experiences that sparked the Marriage Encounter program. On one hand, Fr Calvo had couples coming to him with their problems, conflicts, and tensions with each other and their families. On the other hand, and at about the same time, Calvo came in contact with a group of young couples who deeply impressed him with the evidence of what marriage could be. Their marriages were a picture of mutual trust and conjugal unity, based on a profound spiritual understanding of the meaning of marriage. This is exactly what the other couples were desperately seeking and could not find. Calvo sought the cooperation of these couples in a program of help for those couples who were struggling to make their marriages and family life better. Fr. Calvo makes it very clear in his writings that he did not want the program to have denominational lines.
Therefore, Minnesota Marriage Encounter has always been an inter-faith organization.
In 1966 Calvo and a group of encountered Spanish couples brought Marriage Encounter to the United States. Since then, it has spread rapidly throughout the United States and many other countries. Marriage Encounter has its roots in the Christian church but it serves couples of all faiths. The weekend is God-centered with emphasis on personal and couple spirituality rather than doctrine. Thus began the original concept of Marriage Encounter in the need of a married couple to grow together and in the belief that the future transformation of the world begins at the heart of the family – the couple.
The first Marriage Encounter was held in Minnesota in 1972 and since that time over 24,000 couples have attended a weekend. December 2011 marked weekend number 1316. Minnesota Marriage Encounter is the largest National Marriage Encounter affiliate in the United States.
With the success and positive impact of Marriage Encounter, a program was developed for couples considering marriage, called Engaged Encounter and November 2011 marked weekend number 441. Engaged Encounter provides an opportunity for couples to explore their relationship together to find ways to make it stronger, fulfilling, joyful and a lifetime commitment.
