Retreats

April Rae Gutierrez

“Embodied Spiritual Practices for Brown and Black Bodies Exploring Sabbath Rest” addresses spiritual formation, discussing an approach to Sabbath Rest for healing and restoration that is countercultural on personal and societal levels. Through a retreat, participants engaged in embodied spiritual practices that promote rest as a tool for spiritual formation and transformation that is rooted in decolonizing theology and spiritual practices. Working in collaboration with The Board of Young Peoples Ministry and the Hispanic /Latino Ministry of the Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church, the retreat model was reviewed by the committees for use in the work of spiritual formation for Black and Latinx Young Adults. The implementation of this project and retreat shows that culturally relevant spiritual practices that honor Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) stories and spiritual practices may deepen the encounter with God and relationships with participants within the retreat setting.

Philomena Ofori-Nipaah D.Min.

This research examines how a Reformed understanding of prayer can be enriched by the use of the Prayer of Nehemiah and the Lord’s Prayer. The project demonstrates that a better-informed theology of prayer results in a deepening of the spiritual practices of clergy and church leaders, allowing them to slow down and be involved in a faithful and sustained discipline. This helps them develop a deeper relationship with God. The results are established by a comparison of participants’ surveys taken before, during, and after they have practiced different prayer rules and through the interviews I conducted with the participants.

Philip A Shangraw

Living with God in Our Culture: A Manual for Directors Facilitating an lgnatian Group Retreat is a practical and creative guide to directing an eight day, values clarifying retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The manual succinctly illustrates the interplay of values, culture, and spirituality for contemporary Americans using clear, pointed examples. This blend grounds the author' s basic assumption : values determine what people notice and influence their spirituality.

The principles of Ignatian spirituality-awareness, intelligence, reasonableness, responsibility, and love-as postulated by Bernard Lonergan, S.J., and five basic Lucan values-dependence on God, compassion , inclusiveness, right use of possessions and nonviolence-are highlighted in the manuscript and provide a manageble retreat framework for both director and retreatants.

The manual includes prayer exercises, guidelines for the discernment of spirits from a cultural context, practical suggestions for preparing and directing the retreat, and examples from the experience of retreatants.

Brett J Vander Berg

This project contains an action research impact study that developed a retreat for first-call, rural, Midwestern, male pastors in their first five years of ministry. The retreat intended for these pastors to have a meaningful experience of humility during three primary retreat components: 1) a ritual where personal titles, roles, successes, accomplishments, ordinations, and worldly gains were removed; 2) large-group sessions with activities designed to develop self-awareness; and 3) small-group sessions based on “Circle of Trust Touchstones.” Contributing to the field of practical theology, this project includes intensive qualitative research regarding the impact of the three components on retreat participants. The project also includes an articulation of the ways in which the action research affected the spiritual formation of the researcher.

Tyler P. Roach D.Min.

This project was developed for the purpose of lowering the anxiety level of the participants of the First Baptist Church, Morganton, NC. It will be accomplished by providing a baseline awareness of their anxiety level and introducing tools to bring their baseline down. The tools used were Bible stories, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Family Systems Theory, and centering prayer. The tools were presented in the form of a Friday night and Saturday morning retreat. Data was collected in three different ways. The Beck Anxiety Inventory was used during the retreat to track baseline anxiety. An essay questionnaire was given a month after the retreat to gain progress and engagement. Finally, six months out from the retreat, a survey using a Likert scale of 1-10 was submitted by the participants. The conclusion was favorable and with some adjustments could be used, at least in part, with other groups.

Kelly L. Grimes

Pastors are hardworking people. Although it is a blessing to be the priest and prophet of your local congregation and community, it can also be stressful. Consequently, there are times where pastors miss the opportunity of living a more fulfilling life through Sabbath and life-work balance. The biblical and Wesleyan traditions offer solutions to this challenge as pastors respond to God’s call of dedicated service through ministry. When pastors connect with their biblical and Wesleyan traditions and they are supported by their church community, pastors are better equipped to live a more well-rounded life.

[Note about entry: Abstract submitted to the Atla RIM database on behalf of the author. The text appears in its entirety as it does in the original abstract page of the author’s project paper. Neither words nor content have been edited.]

Rachel Radeline Gonia

Clergy person are not healthy in wholistic ways. This paper examined whether pastors who engage in examining their own health through a wholistic framework while also establishing or strengthening a health ministry within in their congregations would increase their self-care. The pastors participated in a Day Apart and/or a covenant group. Their health measures were compared to those who did not participate in anything. The analysis suggests that pastors who participated in covenant groups and the day apart did increase their health measures while the connection to congregational health ministries was not clearly established.

[Note about entry: Abstract submitted to the Atla RIM database on behalf of the author. The text appears in its entirety as it does in the original abstract page of the author’s project paper. Neither words nor content have been edited.]

Leslie Oden McNamara

Discovery of How Pilgrimage on the way of Saint James in Northern Spain Affects Spiritual Healing:

The purpose of this discovery project was to discover the level of healing that participating in the pilgrimage known as The Way of Saint James, in Northern Spain, had on a group of self-selected individuals. The participants were surveyed using an online assessment tool through a website called Survey Monkey. The eighty-five self-selected individuals responded to the assessment instrument after they completed the journey. The results suggest that the pilgrimage journey changed the participant's general outlooks on life and fulfilled unmet emotional needs or core longings.

David E Antill

A Resource Created for Formational Prayer in the Training of Salvation Army Cadets:
The project's purpose was to create a resource on formational prayer that will equip cadets at The Salvation Army College for Officer Training to lead people in the formational prayer experience. The scope of research included biblical, theological, historical and contemporary writings on formational prayer. The project's design included the development of a curriculum reviewed by a panel of experts.
The results reveal that synthesizing Terry Wardle's formational prayer work with Salvation Army beliefs and practices produces useful material for training in formational prayer ministry. The most prominent finding recognized the curriculum's use of community in formational prayer.

Julie Michelle Welborn D.Min.

The topic of this thesis-project is the role of storytelling as a pathway to healing in retreat settings for high school youth. The thesis to be tested suggests that when personal narratives are coupled with biblical narratives, that a new and healthier narrative can emerge; and, especially to examine more clearly any inherent dangers in storytelling; and to explore what appropriate follow-up needs to be designed in the aftermath of such storytelling. This thesis-project takes in depth look at the role of story, Scripture, and the experiences of storytelling from adults who have facilitated retreats, along with adults who have participated on retreats while in high school.