St. Barnabas' Retreat Weekend at Shrine Mont was a great success: there were more parishioners at church in Shrine Mont than there were left in Annandale!
Our church's growing children's community was well-represented. In addition to organized crafts (gorgeous Jesus Loves Me flower pots), stories, songs, and dances, the children also had a fair amount of play time to strengthen their relationships with each other.
The older children's level of enthusiasm was particularly notable. They helped take responsibility for the younger ones, acting as great guides and buddies.
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| Shuffleboard! |
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| Excavation lesson. |
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| Somebody give these guys something to do. Seriously. ;) |
Our time together was well-organized and well-spent, focusing on the ways that we feed our souls and feed our communities. The presentations were 100% put on by our own parishioners. We frequently broke out into groups, which provided fantastic opportunities to get to know people we might not otherwise have known. Although we're a small church, we're growing. I would venture to guess that everyone there met someone new over the weekend.
The music was great fun! This picture doesn't do it justice. Songs ranged from traditional and spiritual to campy and fun. Whatever the mood of our lesson and work, Beth had a song to enhance it. Awesome.
At one point several families with kids decided to take advantage of Shrine Mont's labyrinth. For the little ones it was a puzzle and an exercise in patience.
Some of the other adults decided to do the longer and more challenging hike up North Mountain.
One of the most interactive tasks for us at the retreat was to identify the many ministries of the church and help the Portfolio Management Team help prioritize. Our work falls into four categories: Worship, In-reach, Outreach, and the Wider Church. Everyone was asked to place a pink dot next to the ministries they felt strongly enough to volunteer for, a green dot next next to the ones they felt were important but weren't directly involved in, and a yellow dot for the ones that were not as important. It was fascinating to see what our community agreed and disagreed on, and it was valuable to identify work that is seen as important but lacks a point-person. And it was most impressive indeed to put all our work into one chart. Considering our size, our good works sure are mighty! Those unable to join us at Shrine Mont are encouraged to participate in this activity. The poster is now in the hallway at St. Barnabas'.These are just a few of the many memories made that weekend, and the important spiritual work done there on the individual, family, and church community levels. Please add Shrine Mont to your list of wonderful parts of the St. Barnabas' experience!
