The question: We are planning a morning type retreat here for our deacons, deaconess and elders.

Just wondering if any of you have run a retreat with a simple format. It is basically a waiting upon God time – we are facing some big issues here and are keen to be quiet before God.

Some of our people are not academics so there is an interest in my part in finding a simple way forward.

If you have engaged in something along these lines, it would be helpful to know how you handled this.

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My response:

If you only have a morning it’s my conviction that if they haven’t done it (much) before they ought to be encouraged to relate as sisters/brothers, and to God-in-worship (appropriate to their experience/ecclesiology) rather than primarily as functionaries…

First some corporate praise/Scripture etc.

Then, depending on the total size of the group, maybe smaller groups of 3-4 to talk about their journey in any way/depth they want, then pray for one for one another.

Maybe a bit of solitude where ‘alone with the Alone’ they can be encouraged to reflect on a couple of general issues of life-with-God…

After morning tea ‘dream’ a bit about the church, the town, the nation etc.

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Another response:

By way of a guided reflection time on how they see their (local) church i asked the deacons at Newmarket some years ago how they saw the church, or rather ‘imaged’ the church. i asked them to think about an image that most aptly describes the church the way they were currently expereincing it. I guess this is a pretty well-known exercise, but the results (with some prompting for some) were terrific for some who definately weren’t right-brained at all. Some saw the church as i light, a bridge to salvation, a faithful remnant or a mother hen brooding over her chicks. The images are still vivid years later. We then looked at the scriptures to explore those images further.