Last weekend we held the National Sunday School teachers retreat. The retreat focused on different ways to live into the freedom we have as Christians, and how we can use that freedom to serve and transform ourselves, our communities, and the world.
So much happened in the three days of the retreat, that it could not all fit in one blog. I have done my best to summarize the highlights of the weekend and share some of my best photos. Enjoy!
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| One of the highlights of the weekend was a play that this very talented group of youth wrote just for the retreat. They took the story of the feeding of the 5000, and wrote a play about caring for the needs of others based on that story. |
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| The theater group also led a few sessions on acting basics. All the participants were very interested to learn new ways to be creative and new ways to teach through acting. The activity in the picture was "mirroring" where we had a team up and act as mirrors to our partners (it's harder than you would expect). |
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| Of course we had worship. Pastor Nelson preached and lead the other "pastoral duties" throughout the weekend. |
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| At the end of worship, the organizing team, which is made up of leaders from every region. These people have many responsibilities for Christian formation throughout the year. Left to right: Miguel (regional coordinator in Boyaca), Mauricio (coordinator of pre-adolescents), Pastor Nelson, Judith (regional coordinator in Plains), Belky (regional coordinator of eastern region), Mauricio (volunteer for everything Education), me, Carolina (regional coordinator in south central, and the newly elected national coordinator), Zulma (national coordinator for Christian Formation) (and missing from the photo Stella - coordinator in north central) |
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| We divided into groups to rotate through different stations, each station working through a part of freedom (the theme of the weekend). This photo was from my station where we discussed that through our freedom we commit to serving in the church - using our gifts. (Because I was in charge of one of the stations, I don't have pictures of the others). |
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| Through donations, we always give the congregations who participate in these spaces materials so they can continue to do the work in their congregations. Pictured is one representative from each of the congregations receiving their material - there were 15 different congregations which participated in the retreat (not pictured Socota). |
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| The whole group! It was a fun, learning filled, weekend. (Picture by one of the staff at the retreat center). |
