Future Destination Retreats
The long-term goal for our Destination Retreats is that they become regional gatherings, like “Iron Rose Sisters on the Road.” Do you have a clever new name for our Destination Retreats? Are you interested in coordinating a bilingual or multilingual Destination Retreat in your region of the country? Join us in this growing vision!
Celebrating God’s Story in 2022
The global pandemic postponed the 2021 in-person Destination Retreat to the first weekend in November 2022. At the time of the publication of this passport page, there is still time to sign up and join us at Camp Areopagus in Conway, Arkansas! You won’t want to miss this bilingual retreat that will celebrate God’s big picture story of the Bible, as well as many personal God stories of how God is living and active today.
1st Bilingual Destination Retreat
By 2019, Iron Rose Sister Ministries’ bilingual resources had grown, as well as the need to model bilingual strategies. For many women, it was their first time to participate in bilingual worship—a little taste of heaven. Small groups were offered in English and in Spanish. Teaching on the theme, the Great I AM, was also provided in each language, sometimes translated, and sometimes presented in one language at a time.
Pictured are three generations of Hispanic attendees. The abuela participated in Spanish. The middle generation joined her mother but asked for the printed materials in English. The granddaughter attended the classes in English and participated in the English-speaking small groups. What a blessing!
Kick-off for Small Group Study
Sisters in Costa Rica gathered for their weekly Bible study and, after receiving copies of Humano Y Santo, requested a kickoff study via Zoom for their ongoing small group study. Michelle J. Goff was thrilled to empower these women to rotate the leadership or facilitation of the small group discussion amongst the women each week.
Prayer within Small Groups
Sisters in Quito, Ecuador, model a vital element of small group gatherings: prayer. Our relationships with God and with one another are deepened when we go to our Father together. We rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn, and unite as one supportive voice in the trenches of spiritual battle, through prayer.
Called to Listen Destination Retreat
Camp Areopagus, just outside of Conway, Arkansas, became Iron Rose Sister Ministries’ home-away-from-home as an economical location to host our 2nd Destination Retreat. Everyone who attended this retreat received a copy of the newly released Called to Listen: Forty Days of Devotion Bible study book as a kickstart for their own small group once they returned home.
Multigenerational Group in Escondido, CA
Bilingual events can provide an opportunity for women of more than one language and multiple generations to participate in the small groups. After each class, Bible verses and follow-up questions are provided to deepen relationships with God and with one another.
Small Group Handouts in Managua, Nicaragua
Whether at one of our biannual Destination Retreats or at the other type of events we conduct, in partnership with a local hosting congregation, we prioritize the personal and practical application of the lessons in the context of small groups. Nicaraguan sisters model this practice with the handouts with guided small group discussion questions.
First Destination Retreat 2015
The first Destination Retreat took place in Colorado, the state where Iron Rose Sister Ministries began, even though the ministry’s home base had moved to Searcy, Arkansas, a mere two months prior. The theme was “In the Hands of the Divine Gardener” from Jeremiah 31.
Small Group in Rogers, AR
Michelle J. Goff and Board President, Katie Forbess (in a black shirt on the back row) visit Katie’s mother-in-law, Darlene Forbess, sister-in-law, Darla, and other women in Rogers, AR, to kick-start their small group study of Human AND Holy in 2014.
Humano Y Santo in Los Angeles
While visiting in southern California, Michelle poses with a group of women who recently had been introduced to Iron Rose Sister Ministries and her small group Bible study materials. The women were excited to begin a study of Humano Y Santo in 2014.
Future Small Groups
We would LOVE to hear from you and a small group you have started together, using Iron Rose Sister Ministries Bible Study or Small Group Resources! Take a picture, share a story, and invite us to rejoice with you in what is already happening or to kickstart a new group.
That concludes our third passport page, "Small Groups and Destination Retreats." Be watching our 10th-year-tour page for more passport pages!
Small Groups and Destination Retreats
Small Groups are a foundational practice for Iron Rose Sister Ministries. Groups of 3-8 women gather to spend time in the Word and in prayer, as iron sharpening iron. The Bible Study Resources facilitate this key strategy for growth in relationship with God and with one another. Small Group Resources are available for download, such as a Facilitator’s Guide, video workshops, and more.
Destination Retreats bring together women from a wide variety of congregations in various locations, all arriving at one “destination” to retreat from daily life to connect to God and to one another more deeply. At these retreats, interactive teaching, small groups, and other practices are modeled, equipping women to return to their home congregations and put these same things into practice. The relationships built have continued over the years and the Destination Retreat, every two years, has become a reunion for many of those women to see one another again.