History of Kingdom Weekend

St. Hubert Roman Catholic Church of Hoffman Estates, IL Estates developed the Kingdom Weekend. Members of St. Hubert assisted Prince of Peace Lutheran Church to start their program by forming a joint team for the first Prince of Peace Kingdom Weekend in April 1984. The experience learned in that project was utilized in the development of a program for Lutheran Church of the Atonement, Barrington IL. Subsequently, Atonement Church has passed on the gift it received from Prince of Peace to several other Lutheran Churches in the Illinois area. Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Puyallup WA heard about the retreat through the ELCA. St Barnabas Church, one of those doing the Kingdom Weekend ministry, was contacted and Beth Zier and Linda Oliver from Pilgrim Lutheran went to Illinois in February, 2000 to attend a weekend retreat. They were then equipped to be able to start the ministry here in the Northwest and with our Lord's blessing the retreat has now been brought to two more churches in Washington.

We have found the Weekend offers new members the opportunity to quickly integrate into our congregations, and members of longer duration are given the opportunity to develop stronger and closer relationships with those they have known for some time. And of course, we hope to also understand and develop more deeply our relationship to God our Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. We feel this is a valuable education and retreat ministry. It is a great way for members of our congregation to grow spiritually, individually, and in small groups.

Kingdom Weekend trains members of the congregation to be servant leaders. The primary focus of a Kingdom Weekend is the experience of the first time Participants. The Kingdom Weekend team seeks first to be servants, sharing with others what has been first given to them. It is a way for us to express and examine our faith with other Christians. The ministry was created to help us become active members of our congregations. Serving on a team energizes us to serve God by serving others.

With God's grace these gifts will continue to be passed on.