Every year at Uptown Church, our Women’s Care Team (WCT) has an in-town planning retreat. We have two purposes in gathering:
1) to fellowship with one another
2) to spend time reflecting upon the past year and planning for the upcoming year.
Our retreat helps us to catch up with one another, as well as provide an opportunity to consider how we can care well for the women among us. I always find it helpful to gather ideas from different people in ministry, so I thought I’d share some of the questions we ask one another, as well as some of the reasons why we do what we do.
Fellowship with One Another
Usually, we spend Friday evening sharing a meal, enjoying an opportunity to be together without an agenda. These women pour out into other women all year long and I am thankful for one evening of the year when I get to tell each of them, “Thank you for what you do!”
After dinner, we gather in a circle and share prayer request. I send some questions to our team in advance, and they spend a few minutes writing out their responses on index cards, usually sharing one primary request with the entire group. I keep their requests in my prayer journal and then return their cards to each of them the following year. It’s always meaningful to reflect back upon the various ways the Lord has worked in and among us. After months of praying for others, it’s a special time to pray for one another and hear what is happening in each of our lives. This time together fosters an atmosphere of receiving care in the midst of a group of women so accustomed to caring for others. Here are the questions I send them:
Personal Request
1. One person or one ministry you would like me to pray for in the upcoming year
2. Family needs (marriage, children, parents, siblings, etc.)
3. Personal needs
4. Spiritual growth – how can I pray for your relationship with the Lord?
5. Also, think of one area over the past year that you’ve seen the Lord at work. It could be an answer to prayer, a friend coming to the Lord, a new ministry you’ve enjoyed… something that brings you joy in the Lord that you can share with us. We’ll share these together in the group.
Friday evening is always a blessing and time of fellowship. We build our relationships with one another, encourage one another, and rejoice in all that the Lord has done.
Reflecting and Planning
On Saturday, we review and reflect upon the past year and plan and pray for the upcoming year. A few weeks before our time together, I send out the following questions. Thinking through these beforehand helps guide our time with one another.
Reflections from the Past Year
1. Where are our women excelling?
2. Where do we need to grow as women?
3. What specific sin patterns are we entrapped in (sins of commission)?
4. What good things are we failing to do (sins of omission)?
5. Any ideas for Sunday School topics?
6. Are there any particular struggles you see among our women that you feel would be helpful for the pastoral staff/session to consider?Mentoring:
1. Any feedback on how mentoring groups have gone so far this year?
2. Any suggestions for new mentor leaders?
3. Any suggestions for topics?Program Team:
1. Any thoughts on new women’s programs for the upcoming year?
2. What are your thoughts on women’s events? Favorite events from last year? New ideas?
3. Any ideas for women to include in planning (women who love to host, want to be more involved, or like planning and organizing events)?
4. How is the frequency of our women’s programs? Do you think we need more or less events?Women’s Retreat:
1. What topics do you think are important to consider for the retreat?
2. Any thoughts on possible speakers (from within our church)?
3. Any suggestions for fellowship building activities at this year’s retreat?
4. Any thoughts about how to encourage women to attend the retreat?Women’s Care Team:
1. What are ways we are doing well in caring for women?
2. In what areas could we improve?
3. Any other comments, questions, concerns as you look back over 2015?Questions from the Session:
1. Who are potential women leaders in the church? How can we invest in them?
2. What can the elders do to better care for the women of the church?
3. How are our women’s outreach studies doing?
4. How is community among women? Any concerns?
After going through these questions, we end up with multiple pages of notes and ideas. I’m always amazed at how the Lord meets us during this time. This year, I came into our planning session with no clear direction for the upcoming year. By the end of Saturday morning, I left with Sunday School ideas, a full retreat outline, mentoring book suggestions, new potential leaders to reach out to, and a host of insight from listening and processing with these other women. We then send these notes to the elders, hoping that our work will help them as they care for and lead our church.
An additional benefit of this strategic planning time is that it frees our monthly meetings to be devoted almost entirely to prayer. Our labors mean little unless the Spirit is at work. Our insight is limited, but we pray to a God who sees all and knows all. In all these things, our hope is for this end:
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Eph. 4:15-16
Ministry Matters is a series of articles dealing with practical ideas for ministry. The hope is to help generate ideas that serve to build up the church. For other ideas, see here.
