“Would you be willing to host the wedding ceremony and reception?” our pastor texted. Wow, what an honor! I had been looking forward to this very special day for weeks, but a location had never been disclosed.

Every wedding is special, but this one would be extra special since there would be 10 couples speaking their vows in the same ceremony. The reason for this mass wedding? Most couples in Benin never get married legally. Some do a traditional ceremony (depending on the ethnic group); others just move in together and start a family.

Of course, most Christians get married legally, followed by a blessing at church, but couples who were already married before they became Christians often remain in this sort of irregular state. Some would like to set this aright but are put off by the costs or by the paperwork that needs to be done prior to the civil marriage. People living in remote villages sometimes do not even have a birth certificate.

For this reason, our pastor and the director of family ministry organized this wedding. For weeks, they worked with all the couples, helped them obtain the required papers and negotiated with the official who would conduct the civil marriage to keep the fees low. Each couple contributed to the reception that which they were able to give. Because the location was not announced publicly, attendance would be limited to the immediate families.

Since we had decided to use our classroom as the wedding hall and the ceremony would take place at 9:00 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, we only had Tuesday to set up when the week of the wedding arrived. Mondays are when our team holds our weekly leadership training.

Fortunately, the wedding occurred over Easter break, so our boys were available to help. They worked hard all day, cleaning, hauling desks out of the room, and moving chairs and benches in. We would be able to seat about 80 people besides the couples. They decorated with balloons, covered the concrete walls with white sheets and made flowers and garlands out of construction paper—no stores to buy premade decoration items here! Finally, by 11:00 p.m., the last letter of Genesis 2:24 was glued to the wall.

On Wednesday morning, the Pathfinders were in their uniforms and standing at the gate to welcome people. By 9:30 a.m., the hall was packed, and more people were standing outside to watch through the windows, but one bride was still missing. When she finally arrived, the ceremony started with the under-mayor officiating the civil marriage. This took quite some time since 10 couples plus their witnesses had to sign their papers. Then our district pastor conducted the church wedding ceremony. In all, eight couples decided to upgrade their marriage, and two couples married for the first time.

After the final blessing around 1:00 p.m., most people quickly left the hall—it was extremely hot—and sat in the shade under the mango trees, where they were served a meal prepared by the ladies from our church. The women cooked enough to feed about 100 people, and praise God it was enough for everybody.

By 3:00 p.m., our yard was empty again, and by the next day, the marriage hall had returned to a boring classroom. Even so, we put all the decorations in a box to be stored. Who knows, maybe there will be another mass wedding soon. Other couples had wanted to regularize their marriages, but they were not able to get all the papers on time.

We were blessed to be part of this event, and we hope that we were able to make this day special and memorable for the couples involved. Please pray that these families will be shining lights in their neighborhoods and communities.

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