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By Becky Zimmerman
Special to the UMConnection

For the past seven years, the women of Westminster UMC have been getting away together to begin to know God and each other a little better. This get-away, which has become an annual event, is a retreat that can be organized to help enrich the lives of women in any church.

The retreats began one summer when Cheryl Huss Fritz introduced the idea to her Sunday school class. Realizing the potential for ministry an event like this might have, she became the retreat coordinator.

On a Friday evening in March 1999, 52 women gathered for a weekend at Skycroft Retreat and Conference Center between Middletown and Boonsboro to sing, pray, listen to inspirational talks, study the Bible, laugh, cry and unwind with other Christian women.

For those thinking about planning a retreat, getting away for a full weekend is important. This avoids people driving home on Saturday night and includes Sunday worship with Communion.

According to Fritz, 'One of the biggest challenges in planning the women?s retreat was deciding on a weekend.' It was difficult, she said, to find a time that didn?t conflict with people?s busy lives. The group chose April because winter weather was over by then, but end-of-school activities had not yet begun.

Once the dates and location are booked, the next step was to choose a theme and format that all the weekend?s activities would center around.

At Westminster, some of the themes have been, 'Living the Lord?s Prayer,' 'Roots and Fruits,' 'The Time of our Lives' and 'Earthen Vessels: the Work of God?s Hand.'

The format provides structure for the retreat so that participants, whether newcomers or regulars, have an idea of what to expect. Westminster?s format includes a balance of large and small group activities.

The large group activities may include icebreakers, skits, artwork, singing led by an in-house praise band, Bible study, worship and games. Small groups, which consist of five to seven women, including one who acts a facilitator, get together several times during the weekend to discuss questions related to the theme.

Care is taken to place women of different ages and stages of life in the same small group. This allows participants to get to know and appreciate other women and their life circumstances.

Our church has used both outside and in-house retreat leaders from the congregation. The advantage in using an outside facilitator is that most participants will be getting to know the leader for the first time, and therefore may pay closer attention to what she says. The disadvantage can be cost. Will your church budget pay for it, or will you have to raise registration fees to cover the cost?

Using in-house leaders saves money and can be a great way for women from the same church to get to know each other better. However, to be effective, the leader needs to be willing to share her story. Will she feel comfortable after the retreat, seeing these same women week after week? These are questions one should explore when deciding on a retreat leader.

If you like the idea of a women?s retreat but your church membership is small, you might combine with another church for a joint retreat. Westminster and Weller UMC in Thurmont did this in the spring of 2002. This gave the women of Weller a chance to see how Westminster, then in its fourth year, conducted its retreat. Since then, Weller has had enough participants to hold their own retreat each year.

Publicity is also important, Fritz said. 'Posters, flyers, bulletin inserts and announcements during worship are essential, but there is no substitute for personal contact.' Each year, she said, there are women who attend the retreat for the first time because, as they put it, 'someone invited me.'

The women of Westminster invite you to think about starting a women?s retreat. For more information, contact Fritz at (410) 751-8333, or ; or Becky Zimmerman at .