Retreat ideas

Here are several retreats based on Women of the ELCA’s newest program resources. We hope you find something you like! If you use one of these retreats, let us know how it went: e-mail women.elca@elca.org.

Made One in the Image of God Retreat

Explores: inclusion and hospitality
Time: evening plus full day following

This retreat encourages reflection, discernment and planning for action so that we may become more inclusive and practice true hospitality in our congregations and organization.

Preparation: Set up a low table with three candles on it as a focal point in the middle of a circle of chairs. Have music playing in the background. Elsewhere, create the three stations described in the resource The Three Stations.

First evening: Begin with The Three Stations by having each person choose one station to participate in. Then, once everyone is reassembled, use the three candle prayer from Sacred Spaces.

Facilitate The Story of Peter and Cornelius Bible study. At the conclusion of the Bible study, invite everyone to leave in silence. Blow out the candles before leaving the room.

Next day: Use the Hospitality: More than Warm and Friendly resource for the first hour. Adapt as needed to flow into Welcoming the Stranger. Have lunch after the Bible reflection in Welcoming the Stranger. After lunch, continue using the resource as written. Enhance the call to action by inviting participants to covenant with each other to do the things the Spirit invites them to do. 

Use The Three Stations again at the end as an invitation to the participants to consider what they have learned and now see that they need to do.

To do this as a one-day retreat: Start with The Story of Peter and Cornelius Bible study, move into Welcoming the Stranger and then close with The Three Stations.

Healthy for Us Retreat

Explores: living our health initiative, Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls
Time: evening plus full day following

Preparation: The healthy recipe part of this retreat requires access to a copy machine. All snacks and meals for this retreat should be healthy. (And remember, dark chocolate is healthy!) You’ll need to set up the Stations of the Healthy Heart. Elsewhere, set up the three stations described in The Three Stations. Ideally, you’ll have two rooms for this retreat: One for the Stations of the Healthy Heart and another for the three stations and main group gathering.

Ask women to bring at least one clearly printed, healthy dish recipe. (The avid cooks among you can bring two!) The recipe should be printed on only one side of a sheet of paper for easy duplication.

Have three or four brown construction paper branches coming out of a trunk on a bulletin board, or have a sturdy enough dried tree branch in a holder onto which women can hang their “leaves.” Have many green paper leaves for women to write on. Paper clip or string can be used to hang the leaves on the branch, and tacks or tape can be used on a wall hanging. You should also have some music.

First evening: During the welcome, announce that the recipes are needed this evening. Open the retreat with the “Gathering into the Heart of God Litany,” which is found in the Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls Healing Service.

Then use The Three Stations as a focusing tool but adapt the words to invite participants to think about what might be keeping them from making healthy choices in their lives.

Have participants complete the evening with Stations of the Healthy Heart as a meditative exercise. Place a table among the stations with a clearly marked basket for the healthy recipes. Leaders will copy and assemble the healthy recipes into a simple booklet for distribution the next day.

Next day: Start with Isaiah 61:1–3 and the responsive reading of Psalm 27, which is found in the Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls Healing Service.

Have four readers, one for each part of Our Journey to Wellness. Abbreviate these four sections if desired. Readers should have practiced the readings, so be sure they have some time to prepare.

After each reading, have participants write on a green paper leaf at least one thing they do for their health in that area. Each woman then reads aloud what is on her leaf as she hangs it. The group should applaud every woman when she hangs her leaf! (By end of the retreat, the tree should be lush and full—healthy!)

Break for a healthy lunch at an appropriate time. Consider making this a coordinated potluck of healthy foods, or even the recipes offered. Plan some movement for after lunch—a brisk walk around the neighborhood? tossing softballs? badminton?

Continue with the remaining sections of Our Journey to Wellness throughout the afternoon. Break for stretching periodically.

Distribute the healthy recipes booklet to everyone before closing.

Close with the Prayers of God’s People, which is found in the Raising Up Healthy Women and Girls Healing Service.

If you have two full days: Include the three sessions of the Act Boldly for Health Bible study. Intersperse these sessions with the readings from Our Journey to Wellness.

Sacred Space Retreat

Explores: creating and using personal sacred space
Time: one day

Preparation: This retreat prepares participants for creating their own sacred spaces. Have everyone read Sacred Spaces beforehand, bring it with them and bring any tool they would like (rattle, tingshas, bell, gong, feather, etc.). Ask participants to bring their journals; provide thin spiral notebooks to those who do not practice journaling.

Find a private, secluded outdoor area. Tell participants to dress comfortably and bring a yoga mat or small blanket to sit on. Have patio chairs for those unable to sit on the ground. You’ll need tea lights in mason jars or another windproof holder for the three candle prayer.

Retreat outline: Welcome and gather participants using a sounding tool. Do introductions. Begin with the three candle prayer from Sacred Spaces. 

Have women in pairs answer this question: Why do women need their own sacred space? Read page three of Sacred Spaces (but not the box) after participants have shared their responses.

Ask someone to read (or you read) the left-hand column on page 4. Then give this instruction: “For the next seven minutes, share with one other person times when you participated in energetic clearing, energetic healing or distance healing. After seven minutes, switch.” Provide time for large group sharing if you wish.

Introduce Epiphany, Unfolding the Discovery, and use the program as is.

Take a break.

Have women identify and share sacred spaces they know or have visited.

Practice heart/loving breath as described on page 5 of Sacred Spaces for fifteen minutes.

Then dedicate approximately one hour to discernment and journaling, but give these instructions before inviting women to move away from the circle: “Read the right-hand column of page 4. Pray silently, asking God’s Spirit to speak to you what your intention for your own sacred space can be. Journal.”

Take a short break.

Brainstorm a list of favorite centering hymns and songs of praise. Sing a few! (Do this for up to an hour.)

Then see, and hear the stories of, the tools women brought (see page 8). Each woman should share how she intends to use her tool.

Take a break.

Form groups of three and practice creating healing rituals for dedicating a personal sacred space (see page 6; do this for up to an hour). Report on or demonstrate these rituals.

Read page 13 together. Have women journal for twenty minutes on how sacred space as metaphor speaks to them.

Close with a litany from Worship Boldly.

The Disciples Retreat

Explores: building a community of disciples
Time: evening plus full day following

Use Lessons for Today’s Disciples to create a time for building up community.

Do introductions. Use the three candle prayer from Sacred Spaces and the first lesson of Lessons for Today’s Disciples as the first evening session.

Start the full day with the three candle prayer and do the next three lessons in the morning session. Break for a healthy lunch and some physical activity (a brisk walk, etc.) and then do the last three sessions. Close with a litany from Worship Boldly.

Stewards of God’s Creation Retreat

Explores: why and how to be good stewards of creation
Time: evening plus full day following

Find a private, secluded outdoor area. Plan a service project like planting trees, building bird houses, cleaning a park or creating a garden for the morning of the full day of this retreat (see Caring for the Earth as God’s People for other ideas).

First evening: Use Caring for the Earth as God’s People through the first set of discussion questions (do not go any further yet). Then do Being Good Stewards of Water in its entirety.

Next day: The morning is devoted to a service project. Break for lunch. After lunch, complete Caring for the Earth as God’s People.