“Relationships are the fabric of the Universe and a divine gift, since God created us in His image and likeness to relate to Him and to each other”. This was one of the challenges that more than 350 Christian professionals in Spain heard during the weekend of 5-8 December at the 2024 National Graduates Meeting.

Under the title “The Christian professional and personal relationships”, in the south Valencian city of Cullera, the audience was encouraged to “receive one another, as Christ received us”, to seek peace and to build bridges in interpersonal conflicts.

Business leaders, engineers and architects, students and teachers, doctors, nurses and midwives, lawyers and inspectors, scientists and researchers, publicists, communicators and artists, as well as many other national and foreign professionals, discussed interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution, care and connection with oneself. Attendees also imagined how to empower the Church in being contagious with its relational generosity.

Managing stress in old age and freedom for mission in later life were some of the topics in the innovative Reinicia (Reboot) programme, with special sessions dedicated to equipping the newly retired to face this stage of life in a fruitful way.

The greatness and misery of human relationships

“In personal relationships we find an ambivalence: on the one hand there is blessing, on the other hand there is conflict; out of us can come the ‘angel or the beast’, greatness or misery”, said the Bible expositor, psychiatrist Pablo Martínez.

Already in Genesis 3, “the great fracture is told: sweat, blood and tears” due to the rupture of relations between God and man. It is not good for man to be alone, “but there are no two without stress”.

The universal reality is that we need each other, but “we are like hedgehogs who prick each other if we are close”. Relationships are the warp and woof of the Universe, a gift from God to be enjoyed with others. The opposite is loneliness and, in some cases, suicide.

Genesis in the Bible shows the brokenness of man, Martínez said. The first fatal component is destructive attitudes: the ingratitude spoken of in Romans 8; pride; and, the exacerbated ambition to be like God.

“Secondly”, the doctor continued, “wrong decisions led man to seek freedom in the wrong way: true freedom is not found in breaking away from something or someone, but in receiving something or someone”.

Weakness to the influence of the environment is the third harmful ingredient. Satan distorts God’s Word and promises utopian paradises, a pattern that shows up in “contemporary ideologies: hedonism or my right to be happy; individualism or my right to decide on everything; absolute autonomy or my right to be myself”.

Finally, the fourth fatal ingredient that fractures relationships, the Bible expositor continued, is Adam saying, the fault was of “the woman you gave me for a companion”. Sin is an incurable addiction to the ego and by ourselves we are unable to heal this.

The consequences of this original fracture had a domino effect that caused conflict in three other major relationships such as the psychological fracture or rupture of the relationship with oneself.

Secondly, the social fracture of the relationship with one's neighbour and family, by not taking responsibility. Also, in the field of work, the curse of the fall translates into the sweat or effort of work, and in the “thorns and thistles”, work can be done excellently without seeing results.

Finally, the relationship and harmony with nature is broken: the earth groans. The end result of the rupture and its consequences is a state of permanent dissatisfaction and frustration: we do not have the relationships we want and we do not want the relationships we have - neither the single nor the married nor the ones who seek so-called ‘polyamory’.

The love that restores relationships, the great model

All relationship conflicts are a great opportunity for reflection, they are God’s awakening, to seek the values of his kingdom: justice, joy and peace. “The great suture: love that restores relationships” was the title of the second biblical exposition, in which Pablo Martínez considered the love of God as the great protagonist.

Christ came into this world to reunite all broken relationships and to “reconcile all things”; his love is manifested in a typological way. Thus, the biblical story of Ruth is a story of world literature that describes family tragedy and, at the same time, human redemption.

The character Naomi takes the initiative in love with an empathetic look at the need, just as Jesus looked at the rich young man and loved him. The driving force of love is not feelings, but will. On the other hand, loyalty in love is shown in the character of Ruth, who responds sympathetically to Naomi’s empathetic gaze. Loyalty listens, promises and commits; her faithfulness is a reflection of God’s faithfulness. Boaz represents generous love.

[photo_footer] Many young graduates attended the gathering and discussed on faith and culture. / Photo: GBG[/photo_footer] 

Generosity par excellence is found in Jesus who gave his own life, “and if God did not spare his own son, how can he not give us all things with him?” A successful relationship is driven by willingness, anchored in faithfulness and cleansed by integrity. Love looks and sees (Naomi), listens and goes (Ruth), and commits (Boaz).

God provides according to his clock, the right thing, at the right time. And this character of Boaz is a type of Christ, whom we should take as our great model. For one thing, we should put on what He was, with humility and meekness.

Dr. Martínez cited Romans 12 as a brief ethical manual for personal relationships so that no one should consider himself superior to others. He also remarked that Jesus was gentle and meek, even with those who treated Him badly: He was “the Lamb of God”.

Christians in the workplace should follow in the footsteps of Jesus, “receiving one another” in peace, which is the spirit of reconciliation, and forgiving one another, bearing in mind that forgiveness is not a feeling, but a decision.

In conclusion: the end result of the great rupture was frustration; that of the great stitch was the peace of God, who enables everyone with his grace to follow in his footsteps.

Christianity has a superior and irresistible worldview for restoring relationships personally and socially, because it is a message that is based on love, forgiveness and reconciliation.

[photo_footer] There was time to present new materials for evangelism in Spanish.  / Photo: GBG[/photo_footer] 

Caring for oneself, rivers in solitude, the relational church

Caring for oneself is not only taking care of the body, but of the whole being, taking into account the sequence: “spirit, soul and body must be preserved for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Ester Martínez, who has a degree in psychology and teaches at university, began her plenary session on personal care, considering that the body must be cared for, not only for aesthetic reasons, but also because it is the vehicle for personal relationships, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The complete sanctification of our whole being consists in preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ. In the spiritual realm we can be very “active”, but we must feed ourselves spiritually, so that we are not anorexic, putting on the ‘helmet’ - making the Word of God abundant in us - and using it as a ‘sword’ against the temptations of Satan, who wants to bring us down from sanctification. To guard the mind it is necessary to think all things true.

For his part, the psychologist specialising in Family Therapy - Esteban Figueirido - considered in his plenary session that sometimes we need solitude to connect with ourselves and, at other times, it is difficult to accept it, it “chokes us”.

Having company at any price, consuming substances, having compulsive or self-injurious behaviour, or being hyper-busy, among others, are practically ineffective solutions to overcome loneliness.

Being in sports associations, investing in meaningful friendships, among others, are partially useful solutions. Accepting loneliness, embracing it, considering that God “opens rivers in loneliness” (Is. 43:19) and that Jesus offers us a stable and eternal companionship is the profoundly effective way out. To embrace loneliness is to embrace Jesus himself.

Daniel Requena - a pastor in the region of Barcelona - insisted in a practical way on the need for a relational church in the midst of today’s individualism and loneliness. To think about this by fostering relationships he proposed the construction of a jigsaw puzzle among all those present.

The early church was an example to follow of koinonia, where there was a deep bond based on intimate love and shared faith. The ultimate generosity is in “the Father who has given us his Son”. We are part of the same Church and must think “in Kingdom mode”, living a life that rejoices and rejoices with others, loving God and neighbour.

[photo_footer] A Bible exposition plenary session at GBG 2024 conference. / Photo: GBG[/photo_footer] 

Living and reconciling other personal relationships

The theme of personal relationships continued to be addressed at the conference among the specific professional groups of Nursing, Law, Psychologists, Business Leaders, Medical Union, Science and Technology, Academics and Teachers. In the latter group, for example, some 42 professors and teachers discussed their relationships with students, families, tutors, peers, schools, educational institutions and the social environment.

David Goodman - architect and musician - encouraged the audience in his seminar “How to share faith in the workplace” to analyse the obstacles that professionals encounter with bosses, clients, employees or suppliers in the workplace: lack of opportunities, lack of vision, loss of perspective, lack of faith or feeling of inadequacy.

In the face of these difficulties he quoted Mark Greene considering: to be a model of godly character; to multiply with good work; to shape the culture of dependence on God; to be a mediator of truth, a minister of grace and to carry the message of the gospel.

Also Pablo Martínez in the seminar on Conflict Resolution underlined that we live in a world where there is a lot of pressure for the instantaneous and an emphasis on the magical. It is in this context that sudden ‘volcano’ conflicts and ‘leaky’ conflicts occur. The conflict in Jerusalem in Acts 15 raises the approach, listening, acceptance and agreement as the four steps and resources that God gives us to reach a way out of the conflict.

Sexuality in marriage and singleness (sexologist Kari Clewett), the spiritual life of the family (doctors Miguel Torralba and Maicu Lacalle), caring for grandchildren (Ester Martínez); work-life balance in all stages of life (doctor Sara Ares and Esteban Figueirido), lifelong friendships (psychologist Elisa Máñez) and educating from the cradle (therapist Lidia Martín) were the themes of the rest of the seminars that the participants could choose from.

In addition to all the conferences, on the first day of the Meeting more than 30 people heard about how to face retirement, with the programme Reboot. There was also an optional session about reflections from the Fourth Lausanne Movement global congress, held this year in Seoul.

High school youth and children had their own teaching spaces, and the bookshop area presented some new books by Spanish authors attending the meeting.

The auditorium was set for the next national meeting, in 2025: Benidorm.

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[title]One more year[/title]

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