An Encontro Weekend goes from experiencing God’s love to reflecting on personal brokenness to writing down all the things for which the participant wants forgiveness, to burning the list as an act of leaving the old ways behind, to the celebration, ending with a celebration service at the church, reconciliation of families, and testimonies, and fireworks.

The leaders spend significant time on the recognition of sin piece, explicitly describing things God that people do that are wrong because many people do not know. There are so many ways to justify sin that many find it helpful to see what is in the scriptures. The papers are personal. They don’t show them to anyone. Participants are also taught about reconciliation and making things as right as possible with others too. The fire symbolically represents a point in time when we were forgiven and we’re moving forward.

It is important to teach the leaders about confidentiality and the participants that if they confess serious crimes, the leaders are obligated to tell authorities. The life of sin is so messy it is amazing the devil can keep deceiving people into thinking it is some form of freedom.

Christians and eating good food together is a winning combination.