Does Your Church Do Anything for Valentine's Day?
Sweet heart banquets, sour heart seminars —sermons on love, marriage, or romance – does your church acknowledge Valentine’s Day in any particular way? Is this a useful holiday, a neutral one, or a worthless one. What are your thoughts?
Poll Results
Does Your Church Do Anything for Valentine’s Day?
Yes, we put a significant emphasis on love or romance around Valentine’s Day Votes: 0
Yes, we moderately use the time for an event or theme. Votes: 1
Sometimes we do something, sometimes we don’t. Votes: 6
No, but we should. Votes: 1
No; we have little or no interest in this holiday. Votes: 9
Other Votes: 0
- 2 views
It’s a useful family holiday … less so for the church.
- I buy my widowed Mom candy
- And do something special for my wife
My previous church had a Valentine’s banquet every year for all the couples, with and without children, and provided babysitting so all moms could come if they were so inclined. We usually either catered it or a couple years had it at some different restaurants. After the meal, we would have some different games, like variations on dating games, couples quizzes, etc., with some prizes for the winners. Someone would be present to take couples photos for those who were interested.
Although I wouldn’t say it was necessary, it was a time for couples to be able to spend time with each other and get to know the others in the church. When I first came to that church, I thought it was a little hokey, but I actually came to appreciate it after a few years. Most times people get together at church, all the ones responsible for food are taking care of that, and the times are not nearly as relaxed as this one time of year for those attending. In other words, this one time was much less hectic than usual.
Dave Barnhart
This year for Valentine’s day I wanted to host a free babysitting event for couples in our area, including a program (think VBS-lite) for school-age children and nursery for the little ones. We talked about requiring three stipulations for the parents:
- He has to take her out for dinner at a decent restaurant - someplace they can sit and talk.
- They have to join us for about 30 minutes to begin a conversation about the importance of marriage for the family - this would include taking a set of questions for them to discuss over dinner (see #1).
- Gotta pick the kids up by a set time - we aren’t running a youth hostel.
For a variety of reasons, we didn’t end up doing this, but I still want to try it sometime. We have been talking about doing it sometime other than on Valentine’s.
I happened to be scheduled to speak on book of Hosea - still not sure if that’s a good idea or not. It just happened….
_______________ www.SutterSaga.com
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