Mission FPC
Such was the general characteristic of the annual retreat from 8th to 10th March for some of the women active in the FPC Mission, which was an opportunity to:
– Get before God without any constraints of time, logistics, family obligations or urgent domestic tasks;
– Listen and be listened to;
– Strengthen our relations between active sisters;
– Take time out from the daily routine;
– And return home with tools, ideas, new paths to be forged in the daily round.
The recipe for a weekend like this is not complicated: just three motivated people to organise, two inspired head cooks, a meeting place suitable for relaxation and participants who accept the invitation!
Once everyone had arrived and had a look round, we shared our first meal, wrapped up some practical details and took time to create our own “coat of arms”, to wit: what characterizes us? What do we need during this retreat? What is the greatest challenge facing us? The walls of the main meeting place was soon covered with a visual résumée of our individual lives… and topics for prayer which we brought before God in pairs.
On Saturday we had a good breakfast to start the day, then our speaker, Sylvia Evans, arrived and led us in an individual study of Psalm 73, followed by plenty of free time to enjoy one another’s company!
For 2024 the participants had chosen the topic of support. Sylvia gave us the basics of Biblical Counselling and left us a lot of time to ask her all the questions we had on the subject! There was room to discover our emotions in the light of the Bible and for sharing in small groups. In addition the pleasure of stretching our feet under the meal table and being feasted by our cooks!
Our brains were kept active right through to evening. The participants rose to the challenge of managing to play an escape game. Riddles to solve, hidden clues, and of course… ready rewards!
Next day Sylvia shared with us a methodology which can serve as a basis for assisting people in the context of Biblical Counselling. A new tool to add to everyone’s already well-filled toolbox! We concluded by joining together in worship and prayer: a good springboard from which to go back to the daily routine…
Mission FPC
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