19 May Inaugural Diocesan Women’s Retreat: The Kingdom of God Is in Our Midst
Art by Ellen Pointner. Photos from Clare VanderWeele, Emily Verdoorn, Kirstin Magnuson
Inaugural Diocesan Women’s Retreat: The Kingdom of God Is in Our Midst
By Clare VanderWeele
It takes a certain amount of courage and vulnerability to attend a retreat where over half of the attendees are complete strangers. And yet, almost 200 women (and 10 babies!) made the drive to the sunny and tree-lined campus of Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin to attend the inaugural Diocesan Women’s Retreat at the end of April.
These 200 women represented eight different congregations within the Diocese of the Upper Midwest. It was an incredible opportunity to see how God is working across our region and how our individual communities and ministries are all part of God’s larger story.
Deacon Margie Fawcett, supported by a planning team of women from three different churches, began planning the retreat several months prior. “My prayer for the UMD is a season of life and growth,” says Deacon Margie, “Gathering around our love for Jesus, I hoped the women of our diocese would increase in love for one another. If we could gather in one place, our shared faith, resources and knowledge could strengthen and grow our work in the midwest.”
After checking in on Friday evening (gifts of chocolate and journals in hand), women made their way to the conference room, where a wall of windows looked out onto Green Lake. Deacon Margie was the retreat’s MC, and she guided each gathering with humor and lightness that helped everyone settle in. The worship team consisted of women from City of Light, Church of the Resurrection, and Christ Church Madison, and was led by City of Light’s Bonnie McMaken. Deacon Kaitlyn Gaytan of Christ Church Madison said later, “the sound of 200 women singing to the Lord together was so beautiful.”
Katherine Ruch led the teachings for the retreat, asking the ultimate question: What does it look like to engage with the Kingdom of God in the midst of our everyday labors, our missions and ministries, and even our battles? The Kingdom of God is a pretty big theme, Katherine joked in the beginning. But her teaching invited each woman to ponder what the Kingdom looks like (hint: it often starts in the invisible before it grows into something tangible), how we can search for it, what it requires of us as Christians living in our culture, and how we can seek to dwell in the house of the Lord.
The teachings were complemented by opportunities for small group discussions, extended prayer time, and breakout activities that invited women to engage with the teachings in tangible ways. In an art workshop, the task was to choose an item from nature–such as a leaf, a walnut, a stone or a flower–and sketch its intricate details as God planned them. The movement workshop invited women to move their bodies in prayerful dance together. In a storytelling workshop, women engaged with past memories, using the written word to explore the Lord’s presence in their lives.
Incredibly, an extended healing prayer time on Saturday evening morphed into an impromptu dance party, with over 50 women unabashedly dancing side by side, learning new moves on the fly and laughing together.
The retreat concluded Sunday morning with a Deacon’s Mass, worship, and shared testimonies from several women. If anyone had looked into that lakeview conference room at the end of this gathering, it would have been hard to believe that many of these women were strangers to each other just two days before. It was precious to see so many new connections and friendships being formed across different churches within our diocese. God’s Kingdom was and is truly in our midst.
We can’t wait to reconnect with these women again this October at Revive, our annual diocesan conference. Save the date! October 23-24, 2026 at our cathedral, Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.
Clare VanderWeele is the Diocesan Communications Manager and a member of Church of the Resurrection. She lives in Wheaton with her husband and three children. A writer at heart and a lover of words and books, she is also a homeschooler and a birth doula.