Email retreats are offered several times a year as we move through the circle of the church year. Most are facilitated by Janice Maclean, Conference Minister for Christian Nurture & Enrichment.
How E-Retreats Work
- You receive your retreat by email. A high speed connection may be useful for some features but not required. If you have very basic computer skills and are able to receive an email you have sufficient computer skills for taking a retreat! Test your skills by looking at the samples below.
- You are part of a wider community but you retreat when you are able.
- The retreats are flexible. Some folk use the material to retreat once a week; others carve out time each day or integrate the materials with their established practices.
- The retreats follow a theme and offer reflections, photographs, questions, and several suggested spiritual practices.
- You can print your retreat to take away from your computer or you can read it on-line.
- Guests sometimes join the retreat through pod-casts, written word, or You Tube videos. See below for some examples!
Registration and Payment
You can register for the E-Retreats on our website. They are usually offered for $10-$25. There are two ways to pay.
- You can pay on-line through our Pay Pal account using your own credit card or a Pay Pal account if you have one.
- You may also select and option to pay by cheque and send by mail.
We always offer an option to pay as you are able. We want our retreats available to all and recognize there may be times when it is not possible to offer payment.
Two Types of E-Retreats are Offered
- Personal eRetreats – They are designed for individual use when your schedule permits, in a one-time setting aside of Sabbath space, or parts used daily. Although you retreat by yourself and at your own time, you are part of a wider cyber-community sharing the same prayers and practices.
- Small Group eRetreats – New this year, the Adult eStudy is designed for use in a small group. A congregation or group leader can sign up and receive access to the four week study.
The Adult Small Group eRetreat includes:
- a link to a downloadable video or audio pod-cast or print article;
- a written group process for each 1 hour session;
- participant handouts to be photocopied for your group.
- a Leader webinar to review the process, learn how to download materials, and ask your questions.
This may be particularly helpful to congregations with part-time ministry where time to offer all things is limited. But the Adult Small Group eStudy is available to anyone looking for a resource to share with a small group.
The leader needs basic computer skills to access and download the materials. But the groups study tales place around the kitchen table or at a church meeting spaces. An internet connection is not needed once the leader has accessed and downloaded resource materials.
“The most life-giving aspects of the personal eRetreat is that the retreat came to me! It didn’t require me to leave the comfort of my home. It often seems difficult to settle into a “discipline” of a regular time for contemplation and retreat–the arrival of the email once a week called me back to retreat. Also life giving were the variety of resources and suggestions–and the personal reflections , including a photo as a sort of icon for reflection.”
Sample retreat for Week 1 of the 2012 Advent Retreat
- Tending the Light: Witnessing (The password is advent — no capital letters)
“The retreats really caused me to pause in the midst of this crazy, busy season. They reminded me to center myself and to reflect on Christmas though for a short period of time. This has been by far one of the few Christmases when I haven’t come to the end of the Christmas season almost sick from fatigue. Thank you so much ….. messages were inspiring.”
Sample of Guest Podcast from the 2012 Creation Retreat
“As a extrovert who can always find one more reason to email, talk on the phone or go and visit in person, these retreats took me to a different place, the first thing they did was cause me to pause–to stop all movement. A very good thing.”
Sample of a Spiritual Practice Sheet from the Lent 2013 Retreat
Visio Divina – The Practice of Sacred Seeing (WORD VERSION)
Visio-Divina-–-The-Practice-of-Sacred-Seeing.pdf (PDF VERSION)
(If you can’t open this document it is because it is saved to PDF. You can download a reader to read all documents like this. Download Free Adobe Reader for Windows, Mac and Linus systems)
READ more about the Portable Document Format (PDF) here. Information.
To learn more about the individual and small group eRetreats offered in 2013-1014 visit our site. On-line Retreats & Workshops.
Please contact Janice Maclean, Conference Minister for Christian Nurture & Enrichment with your questions, comments, or suggestions for other E-Retreats.
