The Diocesan Women's Retreat, 2013, of the Diocesan Women Fellowship for Christian Service (DWFCS), Diocese of Amritsar, CNI, was held between 9th to 11th May 2013 at Dit Memorial Resource Centre, Amritsar. It was indeed an iconic event of women empowerment for Women Ministers, Women Workers and Minister's Wives. Focusing on the central theme of "Stop, Look and Proceed" a total number of 41women from three different states (Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir) participated in the retreat. This was initiated by the encouragement of Bishop P. K. Samantaroy and the office bearers of the DWFCS. The retreat was extremely motivating and moving devotions and bible studies were conducted in the morning by the different women leaders. The sessions inspired the women greatly, delegates were challenged and encouraged by the resource persons through different topics such as the Women Ministers in Old and New Testament, and Position of women ministers in CNI. Strength and Challenges of women worker's, Challenges and opportunities for a Minister's Wives were also dealt with. They were also informed about the Govt. Social Schemes and First aid. For the First time the spouses of Ministers were called for retreat and they immensely participated.

The programme was very effective for all the women participants. The participants learnt a lot through the real life experiences shared in the bible study by Bishop Samantaroy. He said that women are strong, beautiful creations and compassionate beings. Various issues concerning women were spoken about. The Diocese of Amritsar always encourages the women to step of their boundaries and serve God through their talents. Through this programme we came to know that the total numbers of women ministers in Church of North India are 48 in 27dioceses. In Diocese of Amritsar alone there are of whom 11 women ministers of whom 8 are ordained and 3 are probationers. The main purpose of this progrmme was to encourage the women especially those who belong to remote areas. The feedback was positive and they requested to continue such women fellowship programmes. The women perfomered cultural programmes with two different dances performances. Gidha dance was performed by women workers of Education Project and Chotanagpuri "Jharkhandi" dance was performed by the ministerial group. The retreat became a memorable landmark in the journey of the Diocese of Amritsar to move ahead with a new vision and mission.

Miss Indu Toppo