Why Workshops?
I did a recent survey of our women, asking what elements of a retreat were most important to them. One of the surprises in the results was that a number of the women listed “workshops” in their top five answers. One woman commented on this. She said that she likes being able to select a topic, and “hit some areas of my spiritual walk that I need to work on.”
We don’t always have workshops. In fact, this year we have chosen to omit them, because we are having to fit a fourth Saturday session into the retreat schedule because our guest speaker has to leave early. Including workshops would take away from the little free time we do have, and that free time crucial to our ladies.
However, we most often do provide workshops of some kind. Some years we just have a special break-out workshop (separating married women, single women and teens). One year we centered on God’s Word (Bible survey, studying techniques, having devotions, memorizing scripture). Other ideas would include: mothers of preschoolers/elementary age/teens, dealing with emotions (anger, guilt, fear, etc.), prayer, friendship…the list is endless. Personally, I especially enjoy a workshop that has a panel discussions so you get a variety of perspectives on the topic.
One note about workshops: If you anticipate one being better attended than others (for instance, “married women”), we holdthat workshop in the main teaching area. To avoid having too many people in one workshop, you can have women choose a workshop and then close the workshop when you reach the maximum number that your room can hold.
I recently did an informal survey among our women who regularly attend our retreats. One thing I wanted to find out was what they most look forward to in attending a ladies’ retreat. I loved the answer given by one of our ladies: “The best part of all retreats for me is when God shows up in some really personal and meaningful way.” Another woman added “I love the retreats because the Lord always either speaks to my heart, refreshes my soul and/or I get to see Him do this in another women’s life.” Many of those who responded referenced the time a retreat provides for them to seek God away from the distractions of a busy home life. To me, those answers sum up the purpose of a retreat–providing a time away from the distractions of “life” so that women can devote themselves to seeking and hearing from the Lord.
Two weeks ago I mentioned that we schedule times of personal reflection during our retreat. But, in addition, we have a time at the very end of the retreat that we call “Reflections.” This is a time where we have the women consider what they have written down–how the Lord has spoken to their heart throughout the retreat. It could be something directly from the teachings, but often God speaks personally to the women through 
Reflection…forming our thoughts after consideration. I think we’ve forgotten how to do it, or perhaps I should say that we just don’t take the time to really reflect on how God is working in our lives. For me, the days when I take time to write in my journal are the exception. Sometimes reflection just takes place while driving.
