About the RENOVARÉ Covenant Retreat

Why We Gather

The RENOVARÉ Covenant Retreat is for those committed to the RENOVARÉ Covenant—In utter dependence upon Jesus Christ as my ever-living Savior, Teacher, Lord, and Friend, I will commit myself to continual renewal through Spiritual Exercises, Spiritual Gifts, and Acts of Service—and others interested in reflecting more deeply on the content of our discipleship to Jesus Christ. At the retreat, time is garnered and space created for guidance, reflection, and prayer, that we, both individually and corporately, might enter a time of rest and renewal. While many of our larger RENOVARÉ Conferences intend to introduce as many ideas as possible, our focus at the Retreat is on integration, combining learning and experiencing—from our lives before the retreat and while together—with our post-retreat living in the world.

How We Gather

We gather as individuals, groups, and families. We gather together on Sunday evening. We spread asunder on Thursday morning. In-between, we will share in three full days of guidance, reflection, and re-centering our lives.

The retreat features five experiential “tracks,” four for individuals/couples and one with a family (with children/youth) focus. When registering each adult selects one of these tracks. The tracks include:

Silent Retreat — Beginning Sunday, those selecting this track will, as much as possible, adhere to a discipline of silence. “Safe speaking zones” will include meeting each day for one hour with a spiritual companion, mealtimes, and evening gatherings.

Relational Retreat — This track also features meeting with a spiritual companion each day, without the discipline of silence.

Conversational Retreat — Each afternoon, several RENOVARÉ Team Members and the Retreat Leadership will individually hold 90 minute classroom-like “structured conversations.” Each will be an opportunity for hearing a bit of their stories and learning what has contributed to their individual unique ministries. Conversational track retreatants sign-up for one conversation per day.

Personal Retreat — With gatherings and guidances as a framework, retreatants determine their own personal retreat content, with input from RENOVARÉ staff, as needed.

Family Retreat — For the daytime, parents enroll children/youth aged 5 years through 16 in day-long YMCA activities and attend the retreat like adults without children/youth. YMCA children/youth/adult activities include riding, swimming, hiking, mountain biking, nature hikes, arts and crafts, and much more. Day-long YMCA programs feature an additional fee, in the neighborhood of $25 per day per child/youth. If they wish, parents can spend the afternoon with their children in shared activities, assuming they choose a day-long program that keeps their children near the heart of the camp, as opposed to say being out on a day-long hike. RENOVARÉ will provide childcare for infants up to 5 years old daily from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. During the evening, while parents are in the larger session with other adults, children/ youth will be learning about Christ-like spiritual formation through activity based teaching in our Spiritual Formation School.

The RENOVARÉ Spiritual Formation School for Children and Youth

Led by Paula Frost, the Spiritual Formation School offered during the RENOVARÉ Covenant Retreat affords your children a unique opportunity to “increase in wisdom” (Luke 2:52 TNIV). For two hours each evening, we will explore the Traditions of the Church emphasized by RENOVARÉ. Adults familiar with Streams of Living Water will recognize the central themes each evening as your children tell you about the Contemplative, Holiness, Charismatic, Social Justice, Evangelical, and Incarnational traditions. Developed specifically for children, this curriculum will both enable them to enrich their understanding and explore through guided experiences how God comes to us. This is not time children will just “spend” away from you, but time that they will truly “invest” in growing WITH God!