Schedule for Standard Retreat

My standard women’s retreat can easily be taught over three sessions (with the second session being broken up into two parts, so you actually end up with four teaching times):

  • Friday PM Session 1: The Gospel our Foundation for Peace (60 minutes teaching time)
  • Saturday AM Session 2 (Part 1): Biblical and Practical Hope for Resolving Conflict Part 1 (60 to 75 minutes teaching time)
  • (Break)
  • Saturday AM Session 2 (Part 2): Biblical and Practical Hope for Resolving Conflict Part 2 (60 to 75 minutes teaching time)
  • (Lunch)
  • Saturday PM (after lunch) Session 3: Lasting Peace through Heart Change (75 to 90 minutes teaching time)

Regarding the “two-part” biblical peacemaking sessions… please note that my strong preference is to always teach the biblical peacemaking material over two sessions back-to-back to cover the Peacemaker Ministries basic peacemaking principles with only a small break (NO activities/skits/etc.) in between. I can discuss this with you further and explain my reasoning, but the bottom line is that the peacemaking material is rich and deep and it builds on itself. So if I can teach half of the material, give the women a break (to get a snack, use the restroom, visit the resource table), and then bring them right back to the final part of the peacemaking teaching, that usually works best.

In addition to my standard retreat schedule, I do have an optional fourth session (“Relationships that Reflect the Glory of God”) that we can add onto your schedule if your retreat extends overnight on Saturday (so you need a Saturday evening session) or if flight options require me to stay through Sunday and my schedule allows me to visit your church on Sunday morning to do the fourth session as a women’s Sunday School class. (It “stands alone” so you don’t have to have attended the retreat to enjoy the fourth session. Many churches have found that offering a special “One Time Women’s Sunday School Class” has reached out to women who “never” go to women’s retreats.)

(Please note that in the past, I offered this fourth session as a second Saturday afternoon session. But after years of doing this retreat, I have come to the conclusion that such a schedule is simply too long for one day of an event.)