Our annual Family-Weekend-Away and Retreat programme remains one of our most audacious annual events. The retreat takes place every long weekend in May. In the Province of Manitoba, the weekend is known as Victoria Day, in honour of Queen Victoria, Britain's reigning queen when Canada became a self-governing country in 1867. Audacious in the sense that we begin the planning one year in advance, especially after the inaugural retreat in 2022.
The idea for the family retreat came from one of us, Emem Iniobong. As people of faith, we jumped on the idea. However, an important caveat was added to the plan: if we are going to have the programme, it must be different from how church retreats were held back in Nigeria. The vision was to hold our retreat at a resort. Back in Nigeria, several faith-based retreats left more to be desired in terms of accommodation and feeding. The dorm-style, rows of bunk beds, with a crowd sharing a single bathroom arrangement was not what we wanted. As the lead minister, the people were encouraged to trust in God's power to provide so we could have a vacation-style retreat at a resort, with good food.
The first edition of our retreat took place at the Candle Lake Golf Resort in Saskatchewan, about a five-hour drive from our base in The Pas. The first edition took place over the Easter weekend of 2022; later iterations of the programme moved to the May long weekend. A total of four families attended our very first retreat: the Iniobongs, who drove all the way from Brandon in blizzard-like conditions, the Pokoos, the Oyinloyes, and the Atoyebis. There were a total of 17 people at that first retreat. We stayed in chalets and ate good food. The resort also had an excellent restaurant. We had a great time of fellowship, praying and worshipping together at the resort, far away from any distractions. We used the weekend to connect with one another, and because it was still winter-like that April, we played indoor games and had great fun in our cozy cottages.
Both the 2023 and 2024 editions of the retreat were held at the Candle Lake Golf Resort, with attendance growing steadily to 37 and 51 people respectively. Upon returning from the 2024 retreat, there was a strong sense that we should explore a different venue for the 2025 edition. It would be great to find a place much closer, especially for the Iniobong family, who had been driving about nine hours every year to get to the venue. Back in 2017, the annual Prairie Great Teachers Conference had been attended at the Elkhorn Resort Spa and Conference Centre near Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. That place came to mind as a great option for our annual church retreat.
Negotiations moved ahead full steam as everything pointed to the new reality that Elkhorn would be our next venue. Although accommodations at Elkhorn were pricier than at Candle Lake, a game plan was put together: brethren were encouraged to save $50 to $100 from each pay cheque towards their lodging. One person was designated to collect the money, and everyone had a full year to contribute. That truly helped.
We had a total of 59 people in attendance at the 2025 retreat, and at the 2026 edition, we saw the largest number of attendees so far, with 81. Also, for the first time since we started the programme, we had a guest speaker in the person of Minister Oluwasanmi Aina, supported by his wife, Dr. Adebunmi Aina, and their children.
As a church community, we are standing on the word of God through prophecies that our annual retreat is a godly legacy which will continue to grow and impact lives for generations to come. From the days of small beginnings, we are gradually moving from Strength to Strength, Grace for more Grace, and from Glory to Glory.