Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1981

Community Building Retreats
Murray Moerman

We've found that retreats are good for a church - in fact, we like lots of retreats.

Retreats are a way of building community among groups of people within the church that need to be in touch with each other. We may be able to get to know each other at one level in the course of weekly worship or monthly committee meetings, but an intense weekend of prayer and sharing in a retreat setting deepens that level greatly. My experience is also that people work together better afterwards, are willing to take more risks for Christ's sake, and enjoy their work together more ... if they know each other better.

All kinds of groups benefit from retreats. We plan retreats focusing on marriage enrichment and parenting, retreats for women, men, church staff, home group leaders, worship leaders, and prayer and planning retreats for elders. With increasing frequency home groups also choose to spend weekend retreats together. There will be other groups in your church which will benefit from retreat settings in which to dream, pray, plan and be inspired: perhaps your long-range planning task force, evangelism committee, young couples, parents of teens, parents of young children or soon to be retired persons.

In planning your retreat you'll find that you are more capable than you thought. Some of the best retreats I've taken part in have been the simplest. Each person who attends may be asked to join a smaller group of 4 to 6 people, share their spiritual pilgrimage and a current need and have the rest of the group lay on hands and pray for them. Or each person could be asked to share their dream for their church of personal spiritual life or for a ministry in the church followed by time spent together praying and planning for their realization.

In some retreats you may want to struggle together with a major challenge or opportunity before you or to invite someone to come and teach and lead discussion and prayer times. Frequently members of your group will be able to share devotions and you will not require outside input. We've found that you don't need a high-powered leader. Most groups have one or more persons who are able to share, lead a Bible study, and follow an agreed upon schedule. Be sure to include time for worship, solitude, and free time for sports, sleep, or just to unwind or spend concentrated time in prayer.

A retreat can have many different kinds of style or purpose. Be creative. Vary the venue. Everyone in your church should go on at least one retreat each year. Many in our church will go on three. As a result we book a local retreat centre one weekend a month for most of the year and love the benefits of refreshment, deeper relationships, and renewed inspiration which come from it for various groups in church.

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