Renovaré

A space for recentering and renewing your soul in Jesus.

Registration is closed for RēGathering 2023

Renovaré

Dear friends,

A lot has changed in the 34 years since Renovaré began. Spiritual formation content and conferences are easy to find. Denominational lines are less sharply drawn.

As our staff brainstormed a national Renovaré gathering, we asked ourselves, What do information-drenched Christians who are thirsty for God need from an event today?

Phrases surfaced like…
 

Learning space that is restful, relational, and experiential.

A deep well where the weary can find refreshment.

Ample time to receive prayer.
 

RēGathering is a three-day event that seeks to embody these ideals. 

Think part conference (the good parts), part family reunion (with a family you enjoy), and part retreat (a restorative pace).
 

Three hundred or so followers of Jesus will gather to "taste and see" the Kingdom of God through meals, workshops, worship, prayer, conversation, silence, and laughter.

Our prayer is that it will be a space to…

...receive—not just from good teachers but from the Teacher.
...recenter our scattered minds and souls on Jesus.
...reacquaint with a soul friend and make a new one.
...remind one another of the beauty of the Trinity.
...reflect, regroup, and return. 
...be refreshed and renewed.

Hope to see you there,

The Renovaré Team
 

Who Will Be There?

You

Guest of honor

RēGathering is a gathering of Jesus' friends. He is present through each of us to one another. You may forget what's said on stage, but you'll remember who you were with.

Location & Lodging

Where We’ll Meet

Living Way Fellowship
345 E Wildcat Reserve Pkwy
Littleton, CO 80126

Where To Stay

There are a wide variety of lodging options in the Denver area. Here are a few nearby hotels:

Home2 Suites by Hilton
1405 Plaza Dr, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
(303) 791-1560

Hilton Garden Inn
1050 Plaza Dr, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
(303) 683-4100

Residence Inn by Marriott
93 West Centennial Blvd, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
(303) 683-5500

Schedule

June 8-10, 2023

Thursday, June 8

  • 3-5 PM Arrival / Registration
  • 5–6:30 PM Welcome + Dinner (Onsite dinner included)
  • 7–8:30 PM Session One

Friday, June 9

  • 8–8:30 AM Morning Prayer
  • 9 AM–12 PM Workshops and Main Sessions
  • 12–1:30 PM Lunch–Pre-paid box lunch or restaurant
  • 1:30–2:45 PM Workshops
  • 2:45–7:00 PM Retreat Activities and Dinner On Your Own
  • 7:00–8:30 PM Main Session

Saturday, June 10

  • 8–8:30 AM Morning Prayer
  • 9 AM–12 PM Workshops and Main Sessions
  • 12:00–1:30 PM Lunch–Pre-paid box lunch or restaurant.
  • 1:30–5:00 PM Retreat Activities
  • 5:00–7:00 PM Reflection + Dinner (Onsite dinner included)
  • 7:00–8:30 PM Final Main Session and Celebration

Workshops

Brian Kang

Engraving Scriptures from Head to Heart

Brian Kang

Have you ever honestly searched your heart? In that search, where did you find God? We all have had moments where we desperately sought out God. However, in those pivotal moments, God seems so small and quiet in our lives. Why does this happen, and how can we amplify him and his voice?

There's a practice that has been around for centuries, and for good reason: scripture meditation. In those dry, desert-like seasons of life where God seems so quiet, meditation allows the Bible to take on a deeper meaning in our hearts, beyond what human experience can offer. Meditation is a daily engraving of scripture, and engraving requires precision, patience, and skill to create beautiful and lasting works of art. As we engrave scripture into our minds, we are able to develop a stronger spiritual muscle and can hear God's voice more clearly. Our hearts are no longer burdened with the task of finding God; instead, they become a receptive space for God to speak and work in our lives, turning us into devoted artwork of His image. It transforms spiritual terrain to grow into a fruitful garden, where we can daily seek and enjoy God. This is engraving scripture from head to heart.

Brian Morykon

The Gentle Art of Renewing Your Mind

Brian Morykon

When it comes to ordering our desires and thoughts, Scripture sometimes uses forceful language: Take every thought captive. Put to death evil desire. If your eye causes you to sin, gauge it out. Misapplied, these words can lead to suppression and shame, rather than life and peace. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to notice thoughts and feelings instead of judging them, and how to cooperate with the gentle strength of Jesus in the renewing of our mind.

Carolyn Arends

How Do People Change?

Carolyn Arends

We are invited on a journey of progressive healing and wholeness in Jesus. It begins with the hope-giving conviction that transformation is actually possible. People really can change. And YOU can be living proof.

So how, you might logically ask, does the change actually take place?

The process is both utterly practical and deeply mystical. In one sense, it’s as simple as just saying “yes” to Jesus’ offer of friendship. On the other hand, it’s an incredibly complex undertaking of cooperating with the Holy Spirit to detect and then gradually reform a countless number of ingrained ways of thinking, behaving, and relating.

In this workshop, we’ll explore models (“Golden Triangles”) of human transformation from authors like Dallas Willard, Trevor Hudson, and James Bryan Smith. Then we’ll spend some time drafting our own models while we dream and pray together about Jesus’ invitation to become more like him … and more fully ourselves.

Grace Pouch

Whatsoever is Lovely: How to Bring Art, Nature, and Beauty Into Our Lives in Ways That Connect Us With Solace and Hope

Grace Pouch

When your focus wanders around your home or office, what does your mind find to dwell on? Do your surroundings nurture hopeful thoughts?

Come explore ways to reconnect with God’s natural sources of solace—what is true, what is real, what is good. We will look at ways for you to introduce more soul-nourishing beauty into your daily life. What rich deposits of encouragement has God placed right at your fingertips that you might make better use of?

You don’t have to be a connoisseur to begin curating a collection of natural specimens, works of art, and symbolic sights, sounds, and tastes that help your soul to delight in God. The Apostle Paul writes that God's peace that passes understanding will keep our hearts and minds in the same breath that he says we must direct our minds to “whatsoever things are lovely.” Together we’ll discuss and try out practical strategies for following his advice and experiencing God’s peace.

Gretchen Harro

Becoming a Person of Blessing

Gretchen Harro

What would happen if more of us engaged with the world from a stance of blessing those around us rather than being preoccupied with our own concerns? Blessing comes in a variety of forms, from silently willing good into someone’s life, to speaking a blessing written by someone else, to speaking spontaneous words of goodness.

In this highly interactive and practical workshop we will begin by receiving a blessing through lectio divina. Then, we will learn the basics of blessing others, as well as the difference between a blessing and a prayer. We’ll wrap up by offering an opportunity to bless each other.

James Catford

The Way of Community

James Catford

Healing prayer has been largely ignored in the Western church. Either it doesn’t happen anymore or it has been relegated as a subset of a subset of the “gifts of the Spirit” that few really know what to do with. In this workshop we will seek a better understanding of healing prayer in the context of a community of faith. And we will roll up our sleeves and look at some practical aspects of how to pray for all kinds of healing in the company of others. With good humor and real life examples, we aim to demystify this most mystifying of gifts.

Jonathan Bailey

Cultivating a Rule of Life

Jonathan Bailey

Over the long journey of transformation, it’s easy to experience exhaustion, disorientation, even discouragement. How do we plan for what Eugene Peterson called, “a long obedience in the same direction?” How do we cultivate a sustainable friendship with God?

Drawing on resources from the church’s past, Jonathan Bailey will walk us through the world of the monastic past, looking closely at the heart and art of the Rule of Life, the Christian framework for human flourishing. Of course, we cannot step back into ancient ideas and make them our exact model today. However, the more we turn to ancient spirituality, the more we discover time-tested models for our contemporary journey.

Lacy Finn Borgo

Spiritual Formation With Children

Lacy Finn Borgo

“Childhood is openness. Human childhood is infinite openness.” -Karl Rahner Everyone receives a spiritual formation and this spiritual formation begins when we are children. Come join us as we touch on the four foundational elements of spiritual formation with children. In this workshop, we will learn how we can cooperate with our children and with God in a child’s lifelong journey and natural inclination towards connection.

Margaret Campbell Justin Campbell

Life in the Name of Jesus: Keeping Company With Jesus, Everywhere, All the Time

Margaret Campbell & Justin Campbell

A Bible teacher asked Jesus: Which commandment is the first of all? Jesus answered, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord, is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul; and with all your mind; and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:18-34

As the dispersed, international Christian community that is Renovaré regathers, we do well to recall that it is this life of unquenchable love for God and love for our neighbors that we seek hard after. Nothing must be allowed to replace our pursuit of this forming, conforming, transforming life through Apprenticeship to Jesus. He is our first love, and the one to whom we return, over and over and over again. Nothing is more important than this.

In this workshop, through teaching and praxis (including centering prayer, lectio divina, and visio divina), Margaret and Justin Campbell consider the idea and practice of discipleship to Jesus in three dimensions: contemplation, transformation, and incarnation. Ours, they say, is an invitation to the feast of intimate friendship with Jesus; to the grace of substantive renewal of mind and will, soul and body; and to the joy of participation in the very life of God. As we live in attentive allegiance to Jesus himself, we can love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength; we can love our neighbors as ourselves; we can love even our enemies; we can overcome evil with good; we can do what is right. We can be persons well suited for such a time as this.

Melody Leeper

The Gift of Listening

Melody Leeper

Do you long for a space where you are heard, seen, and loved? Where the noise, opinions, advice giving, and verbal chaos of our world are stilled long enough so that you can hear the voice of God and attend to your own heart? A place where others are praying for you as you listen, and listening alongside you? A group in which a shared desire to grow as disciples of Jesus unites all hearts?

We invite you to come learn about a special spiritual formation listening group experience.

Enter a generous and unhurried space and share without interruption, questions, or advice Experience the freedom of listening without having to respond, fix, or correct Forgo fear of others’ judgment, impression management, and advice giving Can share honestly about your journey with God Learn to discern the voice of God in community Welcome prayerful silence Give and receive prayer Experience others being truly for you and find delight in being for them!

Miriam Dixon

What’s Going On When Nothing Seems to be Happening: The Life of Lilias Trotter

Miriam Dixon

How much of your time and energy is expended on people, projects, and sacrificial service without the slightest indication of results? How often are you frustrated by the magnitude of the task and the limits of your contribution? Do you ever wonder what difference your small efforts are making in the larger scheme of things? You invest in a life, pray persistently for a specific outcome, and yet nothing seems to come of it. Do you ever wonder what is going on?

If you are in search of perspective and encouragement to know in your bones that all is well, Lilias Trotter will not disappoint.

Richella Parham

Why Spiritual Friendship Matters and How to Pursue It

Richella Parham

Humans are made in the image of the Triune God, designed to be in relationship with God and with one another. So how does the need for relationship apply to our spiritual lives? How is spiritual friendship different from any other kind of friendship?

Never has the need for spiritual friendship been greater than these times of rampant loneliness and isolation. In this session, we'll work to understand our need for relationship, discover ways to overcome obstacles to fellowship, and explore methods of cultivating deep and lasting friendship.

Tina Dyer

Finding Belonging in Conversation

Tina Dyer

“Let the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 (NRSV).

Explore listening practices that help us build community through authentic conversations while increasing our capacity to stay attentive to the presence of The Trinity in challenging conversations. Sharing from lessons gleaned from Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ and decades of experience helping people have crucial conversations, Tina Dyer offers us an opportunity to experience dialogue that builds relationships and strengthens community.

Registration is closed for RēGathering 2023

FAQ

Your ticket includes entry to all plenary and breakout sessions, as well as two evening meals — Thursday and Saturday. Friday and Saturday lunches will be available for purchase in advance before the event.

If you desire to can­cel, you may do so up to four weeks pri­or to the date of the event (May 11, 2023) and receive a full refund minus a $25 can­cel­la­tion fee. No refunds will be giv­en after Thurs­day, May 112023.

If Ren­o­varé can­cels the event for any rea­son, we will resched­ule the event or offer a full refund. 
 

Living Way Fellowship is 45 Minutes from Denver Airport (DEN).

Attendees are responsible for their transportation to and from Living Way Fellowship.

No, lodging is not included. We recommend one of the area hotels listed above. You might also try AirBNB, VRBO, or priceline.com.

Founded by Celebration of Discipline author Richard J. Foster, Renovaré is a Christian nonprofit that creates resources and kindles communities which help people become more like Jesus. Learn more about Renovaré.

Please email our events coordinator Monty Harrington at [email protected]