We believe our churches and communities are stronger when prayer and Bible study are central to our life together. We’re taking this conviction seriously through You Are Not Alone, Ministry Forum's Lilly Endowment-supported initiative that provides resources, training, and opportunities for conversation to encourage prayer and engagement with Scripture across the church.
But if you've ever looked for a Bible study, curriculum, or retreat resource for your congregation, you've probably noticed pretty quickly that most resources that come up in your search results have been developed in an American context, or, increasingly, by churches and organizations in the United Kingdom.
These resources have much to offer, and we're grateful for them. But we also believe there's value in learning from the experiences, creativity and wisdom of people serving in our own Canadian context.
We'd love to see more resources developed by Canadian church leaders, writers and creators being shared and used across our congregations. And we know that many of those resources already exist. They simply haven't always had the opportunity to reach a wider audience.
That's why we're especially pleased to share a collection of six women’s retreat resources created by The Presbyterian Church in Canada's own Bonnie Horton.
Bonnie Horton is Presbyterian, born and bred, and currently a long-time member of Guildwood Community Presbyterian Church in Scarborough, Ontario. It was for the women of that congregation that these retreat programs were created. Bonnie spent her career in education and lives in Pickering, Ontario.
About the Retreats
These retreats were originally developed by Bonnie for gatherings of women in her own church community, but we partnered with Bonnie this fall to compile them as downloadable PDFs so they could be available to congregations and ministry leaders across Canada through the our Resource Hub.
Each retreat offers a different opportunity to explore faith through Scripture, conversation, reflection and hands-on activities. They are designed to bring people together, encourage meaningful discussion and make space for participants to connect their everyday experiences with their spiritual lives.
The collection includes:
The Art of Re-Gifting – Exploring the gifts we receive and share with others.
Honk from Behind – Reflecting on faith through creativity and shared experiences.
And the World Is Loud – Making space to listen for God amid the noise of everyday life.
Recipe for... – Connecting food, faith and spiritual nourishment through cooking and conversation.
Sartorial Splendour – Faith through the imagery of clothing and the armour of God.
Butterflies, Bells, and Boomerangs – An outdoor retreat with lots of reflection and conversation.
Each retreat includes activities, Scripture passages, discussion questions and instructions to help leaders facilitate the experience with their group.
We're grateful to Bonnie for the time, creativity and care she has invested in developing and leading these retreats, and for her willingness to share them with the wider church. It’s a reminder that valuable ministry resources don't have to be formal programs or published curricula. Sometimes they begin with someone recognizing a need in their congregation, gathering a group of people and trying something new.
Through You Are Not Alone, we want to help make those connections possible. By sharing resources like Bonnie's, we hope other congregations can benefit from the experience and creativity of fellow Presbyterians.
We also hope these resources inspire others to share what they’ve created for their context. If you've developed a resource, study or ministry activity that has been meaningful in your own congregation, we'd love to hear about it. And they don’t have to be recent - connect with us about updating and modernizing content you may have written or developed 15, 20, or 30 years ago. We can learn so much from one another as we continue to resource and encourage the church together.