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Category: Retreat Center

Spring 2025 Women’s Retreat

Spring 2025 Women’s Retreat

Spring Women’s Retreat 2025

Date & Location: Friday evening, March 28, 2025– Sunday morning, March 30, 2025 at the CCC Retreat Center in West Virginia.

Theme: Meeting God at the Threshold: Where the Past and Future Meet at the Doorway of the Unknown

We will explore this theme through engaging in arts and crafts, journaling, meditation, yoga, fellowship and more.  

Time: The retreat will begin at 8:00 p.m. Friday evening. You may arrive as early as 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, however if you do plan to arrive in the afternoon, please bring your own evening meal.

The retreat ends at approximately noon on Sunday.

Who Can Attend: The retreat is open to all CCC women. We are an inclusive community of spiritual seekers where we honor and celebrate women of all races, cultures, ages, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Come for the entire weekend, one night, or just for the day on Saturday.

Accommodations: Overnight space is limited to 23 people on a first-come-first-served basis, in three heated cabins with bunk beds and full bath in each cabin. One cabin is equipped with a ramp and accessible bathroom. There is no limit to those who wish to come for the day on Saturday.

*If you require either the accessible cabin and/or a bottom bunk please note that when registering. Accommodations are limited so please reserve your requests for needs not preferences.

Meals: We do our own cooking in the renovated, fully equipped kitchen.

There will be four meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.

When you register, you will be asked which meal you would like to help prepare. Meals are an opportunity for creativity and simplicity. Your team is free to choose its own menu.

Costs: The cost for the weekend is $80 for the entire retreat, $55 for one night, or $40 for the day on Saturday only. This covers Retreat Center fees and project supplies. Scholarships and sliding scale fee available. 

Mail your checks, made out to CCC, to the church with Women’s Retreat on the memo line.

Christ Congregational Church
8900 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20910

**In addition, bring cash ($25 in small bills) to cover meal costs shared among all the participants. If bringing food, please bring your receipts labeled with your name and total. The receipts are collected and total is divided by the number of participants to determine the fair share for each. Some may need to be reimbursed for paying more than their share, some may need to add to what they have already spent for purchases. For those who are not supplying food, come prepared to help reimburse those who are.

What to Bring: Besides your bedding (sleeping bag or sheets/blanket for a twin sized bed), pillow, bath towel and personal belongings, please bring:

  • A reusable water bottle to use throughout the weekend
  • A cloth napkin for meals
  • Cloth hand towel for bathroom
  • Food for meals and receipts
  • $25 cash in small bills
  • Indoor shoes/slippers if desired (would like to keep outdoor shoes and associated dirt out of the house)
  • Flashlight or headlamp 
  • Journal (an extra to share is welcome)
  • Magazine that can be cut up
  • Yoga mat (Only needed for those desiring to join an optional floor mat class. Chair yoga will be offered for all.)
*We have plenty of toilet paper and paper towels so there is no need to bring any this time. 
 

COVID Policy: Testing within 24 hours of arriving is encouraged.

Travel Info: Carpooling is strongly encouraged! If it is your first time attending, we especially recommend traveling with others. A carpool list will be created to help coordinate. Directions to the Retreat Center will be sent out the week of the retreat. GPS is not always reliable with the final turns so please refer to directions.

Registration: The link to sign up is posted in the weekly e-news during the registration period. There will also be a registration table at church on Sundays leading up to the retreat where you can sign up in person.

Registration will be open from March 1st through March 24th.

Questions: Please contact Claire Barry at cisbarry@gmail.com or 410-350-4905.

Fall 2024 Men’s Retreat

Fall 2024 Men’s Retreat

October 4–6, 2024

Location

The Men’s Retreat will be held at the CCC Retreat Center, in Lehew, WV, approximately 30 miles west of Winchester, VA.  

Program

Come for the entire weekend, one night, or just for the day on Saturday.

The retreat kicks-off Friday evening at 7pm. You may arrive as early as 3pm on Friday afternoon. If you do plan to arrive in the afternoon, please bring your own evening meal.  For those arriving on Saturday, the first morning session begins at 10am.

While we are planning for plenty of unstructured time, we also invite attendees to participate in group sessions. 

Don Bruns will lead a bible study examining the roots of Antisemitism in the Gospels. 

Paul Scribner will lead a workshop on the topic of “Joy.” 

Pastor Matt and Pastor Aubra will join us for a lunch-and-learn Q&A session on Saturday. 

Fishing, hiking, karaoke, card games, board games, yoga, and song-writing are all on the agenda.

The retreat ends at 1pm on Sunday.

The Retreat is Open to All! 

CCC is an inclusive community of spiritual seekers where we honor and celebrate people of all races, cultures, ages, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Learn more about what we believe.

Registration and Costs

To register for the event, please fill out our sign-up sheet. There will also be a registration table at church on Sundays leading up to the retreat where you can sign up in person.

The cost for the weekend is $65 for the entire retreat, $40 for one night, or $20 for the day on Saturday only. Scholarships and sliding scale fee are available. 

Mail your checks, made out to CCC, to the church with Men’s Retreat on the memo line.

Christ Congregational Church
9525 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20901

Questions?

Feel free to reach out to Don Bruns, at donb@cccsilverpring.org.

REGISTER FOR THE MEN'S RETREAT >>

Discover the CCC Retreat Center

Accommodations

Overnight space is limited to 23 people on a first-come-first-served basis, in three cabins with bunk beds and full bath in each cabin. One cabin is equipped with a ramp and accessible bathroom. There is no limit to those who wish to come for the day on Saturday.

Meals

We do our own cooking in the renovated, fully equipped kitchen. There will be four meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday; and breakfast on Sunday. When you register, you will be asked which meal you would like to help prepare. Meals are an opportunity for creativity and simplicity. Your team is free to choose its own menu.

What to Bring

Besides your bedding (sleeping bag or sheets/blanket), pillow, bath towel and personal belongings, please bring:

  • A reusable water bottle to use throughout the weekend
  • A cloth napkin for meals
  • One roll of paper towels
  • One septic system friendly roll of toilet paper
  • Cloth hand towel for bathroom
  • Snacks to share
  • Food for meals
  • Indoor shoes/slippers if desired (would like to keep outdoor shoes and associated dirt out of the house)
  • Walking shoes
  • River shoes

In addition, please bring cash (approximately $25 in small bills) to cover meal costs shared among all the participants. If bringing your own food, please bring your receipts labeled with your name. The receipts are totaled and divided by the number of participants to determine the fair share for each. Some may need to be reimbursed for paying more than their share, some may need to add to what they have already spent for purchases. For those who are not supplying food, come prepared to help reimburse those who are.

Safety Protocols

Covid testing within 24 hours of arriving is encouraged.

Getting There

If it is your first time visiting the CCC Retreat Center, we recommend carpooling. The planning committee will create and maintain a sign-up sheet to help coordinate carpooling. Directions will be sent out the week of the retreat. GPS is not always reliable with the final turns so please refer to directions.

Questions?

For more information, please write to Don Bruns at donb@cccsilverspring.org.

 

Fall 2023 Women’s Retreat Photos and Report

Fall 2023 Women’s Retreat Photos and Report

This past October 6-8 weekend, twenty CCC women attended the Women’s Retreat in West Virginia and a good time was had by all!  If you are a woman of CCC and  are looking for a chance to connect with other women, whether you haven’t attended any or have attended all, I would highly recommend attending future retreats.  I have tried to include some of the highlights below to give you an idea of why I plan to keep going in years to come.  I hope that I can impart some of that enthusiasm to you.

The theme for the weekend was Women of the Bible.  Pastor Gloria Grant led us on a journey of Old Testament women, from well known figures such as Eve to some more obscure, such as Keturah and Tamar.  An interesting fact I learned this weekend: while women make up half of humanity, they are severely underrepresented in the Bible.  A quick Google search uncovers that of 1,700 people mentioned in the Bible, a mere 137 of them are women.  The exact number depends on the source, and this was part of our study this weekend: part of our Saturday session was to check different sources for information about the focus women from the Bible.  

For the morning session, we broke into 6 different groups and researched the women using not only different versions of the Bible but also an assortment of Biblical scholarly books. These provided extra information as well as different interpretations, depending on the era in which they were written and the perspective of the writer.  We came together to report our findings, which included follow up questions by Pastor Gloria and space for open discussion.  The Saturday afternoon session  was similar: we broke into 7 groups and were each assigned a woman to present to the group at large.  This time however, there was a twist – we were allowed to be creative!  Groups presented using everything from poetry to choral response to rap – shout out to my rap group Claire Barry and Kareen O’Steen for letting me run with it and then having fun with it!  I will never forget the story of Ruth after that…

There was plenty to do during free time.  Many thanks to our artist in residence Kerri Hufford for leading a pottery craft session.  We found leaves and made an imprint in clay that she will take home and fire in her kiln.  Some made a collage representing the weekend theme while others could read or take a walk in the beautiful surroundings of the Cacapon River Valley.  Kathy Stedman spent time knitting, which turned out to be a beautiful scarf of many colors, a gift for Pastor Gloria for being our leader this weekend.  Saturday night included music and dancing to old Motown favorites.  Sunday morning was a church service in which everyone participated.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the food from the weekend.  All of the meals were tasty, well prepared and abundant.  There was plenty of dessert, which was all homemade and absolutely delicious.  Lastly, what I especially enjoy about these retreats is the fellowship and the chance to get to know people, either for the first time or on a deeper level.  At the end of each retreat participants are asked to fill out an anonymous evaluation with the final question asking what you will take with you from the weekend.  Time and again, women mentioned the fellowship.  I will leave you with not my words but theirs:

“Thank you for the wonderful weekend of fellowship and womanhood.”

“There was a lot of positivity. I think everybody likes to contribute to help make it a special weekend for all.”

“Thank you Pastor Gloria for a joyful weekend of learning and laughter!”

“The beautiful fellowship. The sharing and worship. The peaceful environment. The delicious food and leadership.”

“Friendship, fellowship, learning about women of the Bible.”

-Elaine Elderkin

Fall 2023 Women’s Retreat

Fall 2023 Women’s Retreat

Join your CCC sisters for a weekend of connecting, learning, singing, dancing, being in nature and sharing in light hearted fun!
 

Date & Location: Friday evening, October 6, 2023 – Sunday morning, October 8, 2023 at the CCC Retreat Center in West Virginia.

Leader: Rev. Gloria Grant

Theme: Women of the Bible and the Lessons They Teach Us

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Retreat Center is available to rent.

Retreat Center is available to rent.

Consider the CCC Retreat Center for your next private getaway with family or friends. There are plenty of weekdays and weekends available March through November. 

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10/9/22 Retreat Center Worship

10/9/22 Retreat Center Worship

Retreat Center Worship Service, Annual Picnic & Outdoor Fun

Join us for a day at the CCC Retreat Center in Yellow Spring, WV! This event will be held rain or shine. Need a ride? Indicate on our RSVP form. 

Gather Between: 10:00am-11:00am, refreshments will be provided. 

Worship: 11:30am

Picnic Lunch: 12:30pm, beverages and a variety of sandwich subs will be provided. Feel free to bring your favorite picnic side dish or dessert to share (optional). Let us know what you plan to bring on the RSVP form.  

Games & Activities for All Ages 1:00pm-3:00pm.       

Go for a walk, take a tour of the Center, go fishing, create crafts, visit on the porch, play field games, or simply relax.

Please RSVP/Sign up!

Once have completed this form you will receive a follow up email with the address, driving directions, parking info and other important details to enjoy the day.

Questions? Email Kristen Brown at retreatcenter@cccsilverspring.org.

Women’s Retreat 5/20-5/22/22

Women’s Retreat 5/20-5/22/22

Spring 2022 Women’s Retreat - Home Where You Belong, Rewilding our Spirituality

Date: Friday evening May 20 – Sunday morning, May 22, 2022 at the CCC Retreat Center in West Virginia

Time:
The retreat will begin at 8:30 p.m. Friday evening. You may arrive as early as 3 p.m. Friday afternoon, however if you do plan to arrive in the afternoon, bring your own evening meal.

For those arriving on Saturday, the first morning session will begin at 10 a.m.

Retreat Leader: Rev. Sarah Anders

What in your life is calling you, when all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild iris bloom by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul?
 – Rumi

Who Can Attend:
The retreat is open to all CCC women. Come for the entire weekend or for the day on Saturday.

Accommodations:
Overnight space is limited to 23 on a first-come-first-served basis, in three heated cabins with bunk beds and full bath in each cabin. There is no limit on those who wish to come for the day on Saturday.

Meals:
We do our own cooking in the newly renovated, fully equipped kitchen.

There will be four meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and brunch on Sunday.

When you register, you will be asked which meal you would like to help prepare. Meals are an opportunity for creativity and simplicity. Your team is free to choose its own menu.

Costs:
The cost for the weekend is $55 for the entire retreat, or $30 for Saturday only.

Mail your checks, made out to CCC, to the church with Women’s Retreat on the memo line.
Christ Congregational Church
9525 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20901

**In addition, bring cash ($20 in small bills) to cover meal costs shared among all the participants. If bringing food, please bring your receipts labeled with your name. The receipts are totaled and divided by the number of participants to determine the fair share for each. Some may need to be reimbursed for paying more than their share, some may need to add to what they have already spent for purchases. For those who are not supplying food, come prepared to help reimburse those who are.

What should I bring:
Besides your bedding (sleeping bag or sheets/blanket), pillow, towel and personal belongings, please bring:

  • A reusable water bottle to use throughout the weekend
  • A cloth napkin for meals
  • One roll of paper towels
  • One septic system friendly roll of toilet paper
  • Snacks to share
  • Favorite beverage

COVID Restrictions?
Due to increased mild cases of COVID among CCC’s church community, we are requiring that you take a rapid COVID test 24 hours before the retreat.

How do I sign up and register?
The registration date has passed.

Those who have signed up will receive more information via email. 

What is the deadline to register?
The deadline for registering was April 30, 2022.

To inquire about scholarships, call Susan Gray at 301-593-5454 

Worship & Picnic Celebration

Worship & Picnic Celebration

CCC Worship & Picnic Celebration

 

Sunday September 19th 10:30-3:00

At the CCC Retreat Center

 

2655 Eldridge Road (County Rte. 23-2)

Yellow Spring, West Virginia

10:30-11:30 Gathering Time Outside

11:30 Worship In the Field

12:30 Picnic Lunch Provided

1:30 Activities: Fishing, Outdoor Games for All Ages, Walks, Tours, Sitting on the Porch!

Bring your Family & Friends

Contact email below to request a ride

RSVP by 9/10: retreatcenter@cccsilverspring.org