A: If you are at a place in your life where you are wondering how to move forward or what’s next for you, there are a couple good starting points that can help you build your confidence and envision you for what God might have ahead. In this case, The Significant Woman and/or Group Discipleship both offer a good launch-pad with some great skills and perspectives to give you a sense of how God has designed you to serve and what areas of development you might want to pursue in the future.
A: The purpose of this week is more than just to absorb as much content as we can cram into a few days! You work hard and serve your heart out day after day. Getting ready to come and traveling itself, much less life and ministry before then, often brings you to us tired. You need time to rest, renew, recreate. . .but also to connect, learn, and absorb. We have found that you don’t even begin to decompress until after the third day. Then the learning really begins to take hold about the 5th day, and time with the Lord and new friends has time to gain ground. You have time for formal discussions and informal conversations with peers, practice skills and explore important real life issues, enjoy meals you didn’t have to cook, focus without distraction on the matter at hand, and get more sleep than you probably get at home. One week a year or every other year, in which you are poured into for all you pour out to others, is a worthwhile investment in your long-term well-being and effectiveness.
A: By making arrangements to leave your husband, children, or pets at home, you can fully enjoy a women to women setting, even going to breakfast or coffee in your bathrobe. Without the normal responsibilities of home, you are able to engage with focus on both what you need to grow and what you gain in relationship to the peers around you, without needing to think about taking care of someone else for a short time. Somehow women to women opportunities fill a special place in our relational tank, as the conversation is often freer, deeper, and more relevant to what you are experiencing and what you hope to become in Christ. As you gain some rest, perspective, and confidence in the friendship of other women, you both enjoy and better serve those you go home to, no matter what your role there is.
A: You are an important investment in the well-being of your family, church, workplace, or team. Of all the things you plan and spend for, how valuable is your growth and well-being to the big picture? The cost of these development weeks is far less than you would pay in the normal marketplace, but adequate to allow us to enjoy a place that is pleasant enough to relax and accommodate some significant adult learning experiences. Plan it into your annual budget of money, time, and growth.
A: A smaller cohort of peers provides a significant mentoring experience where we have closer access to our mentors and each other during the week. Life on life learning, modeling, encouragement and interaction helps us really absorb, evaluate, and explore important new perspectives and skills rather than support passive learning and anonymity. With 10 participants and 2 mentors in each group, we have a deeper adult relational learning, peer-discipleship experience that will build our godly confidence and enrich us for the contexts to which we return.