Tag Archives: Christian Retreat

Living, Breathing, and Moving: Connecting with God with Our Whole Body

Our bodies are a sacred space and a holy threshold for encountering God and discerning God’s voice and will for our lives. During this four-day retreat, guests will experience a variety of body-based prayer practices and opportunities to grow in awareness and understanding of how our body’s design and wisdom foster a deep and fulfilling prayer life with God. The retreat is designed for those with limited as well as full movement, with options of using both the chair or the floor as we pray. If you would like to use the floor, please bring your exercise mat with you.

Led by Hope Stockman and Rhona Knight

Hope is a Spiritual Director, RYT500, and experienced whole-body wellness guide who is passionate about curating spaces for others to connect and communicate with God through their bodies in every season of life and to discover the goodness, the fullness of joy and profound peace that God has designed into each of us. Hope has offered developing direction workshops for the London Center of Spiritual Direction, coordinates the spiritual formation curriculum for Living Soul Institute and collaborates with Sustainable Faith UK and Revelation Wellness Ministries.

Hope lives in Tervuren, Belgium with her husband and fourteen-year-old daughter. She loves finding God in all things, including reading, meeting new people and exploring God’s creation through nature and travel.

Rhona is a member of the College of Chaplains at Launde. She is a theological educator, pastoral supervisor and spiritual director and is the author of a number of books and resources on discipleship and spirituality.

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 11th August 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click below to book your place now on this retreat:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Look at the Birds: A Birdwatching Retreat

Jesus told his followers to “look at the birds of the air” and Mark Winter as a keen birdwatcher has spent a lifetime following that teaching. Since 2004 Mark has helped others to look at birds on his Even Sparrows retreats on Holy Island, and he continues to marvel at how birds teach us about God’s love.

We welcome Mark back to Launde for the 5th year running to lead another birdwatching retreat. On each retreat people have discovered that we have so many birds locally to see, hear and learn from; last year’s impressive total of 76 different species included Osprey, Hobby, Cuckoo, Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler. Come and see these birds for yourself and enjoy a time of quiet Celtic Christian worship, biblical reflections and guided birdwatching walks.

Mark’s book, Look at the Birds of the Air, brings to life the role of birds in the Bible. He explores their importance to individuals like Noah, Moses and Elijah and their frequent mention in prophecy, wisdom literature and the Psalms. Above all, Mark considers the significance of birds like the raven, eagle and dove to Jesus himself, as well as the lessons we can learn from birds as his followers today.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 2nd September 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Look at the Birds: A Birdwatching Retreat

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 11th February 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Stepping Into the Bible

For many people, including Christians, the Bible is a bit of a closed book; this retreat opens it up. We step into the world of the Bible where we discover an evolving story in which people struggle with the same questions as we do, and where old ideas are discarded and are replaced by new. We see how the Old and New Testaments relate to one another, and as we move from the old to the new we see how ideas about God and Jesus, salvation and morality changed over the centuries. We are led on a journey of faith that helps us get on to God’s wavelength; we discover that Christian faith is more than a set of beliefs about God, prayer and getting to heaven. It is very much about the way we live our lives, here and now, so that God’s will is done and God’s kingdom comes on earth as in heaven.

It’s from the old I travel to the new

keep me travelling along with you.

Canon Peter Sills:

The retreat will be led by Canon Dr Peter Sills. After an initial career teaching Law at Kingston, Peter served in three parishes in the Diocese of Southwark before moving to Ely where he was Vice-Dean of the Cathedral. Peter is an engaging spiritual teacher and pilgrimage guide. He has led courses and retreats for churches and groups in the UK, USA and at the Anglican Centre in Rome; this retreat is based on his recent book Six Steps Into The Bible. www.peter-sills.co.uk

Click below to book your place now on this retreat:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Rediscovering the Ancient Paths with Bernard of Clairvaux

This two-day retreat will be an intimate conversation with one of the greatest exponents of the love of God, Bernard of Clairvaux, a French twelfth-century monk. Jenny Campbell’s text In Search of Friendship: Lessons from a Monastic Tradition will be the basis for exploring desire and love of God; love within the Trinity embracing earthly spiritual friendship; the disciplines of silence, contemplation and a prophetical reading of Scripture.

The retreat will offer teaching, worship, prayer, times of silence and the opportunity for individual appointments with the retreat conductor and relaxation in the grounds and surrounding countryside.

JENNY CAMPBELL

MPhil, BD, DipTh, HED, BA

Jenny has taught on theological programmes in colleges throughout the UK, including Derbyshire, Sheffield and London. She is currently Deputy Programme Lead on the Spiritual Formation MA at Waverley Abbey College.

https://www.waverleyabbeycollege.ac.uk

Jenny has worked in the areas of retreat direction, spiritual formation, and prophecy for over three decades in Africa, UK and Europe, teaching and equipping the church. Her published works include Strengthen your Core: Practical Spiritual Formation for Every Day; Soul Service: Five Spiritual Checkups; Prophecy for Anyone; In Search of Friendship: Lessons from a Monastic Tradition. Jenny is the leader of Eaglesinflight, a network of Christians whose mandate is to equip the church and sharpen prophecy at local and national level through retreats, conferences and seminars.

www.eaglesinflight.net

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 4th August 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Rooted and Grounded: Going Deeper Into Spiritual Practice

Rooted and Grounded: Going Deeper Into Spiritual Practice.

A retreat hosted jointly by Renovaré Britain & Ireland (renovare.org.uk) and the Launde Abbey community (laundeabbey.org.uk)

Paul shared with the Ephesians his yearning “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith as you are being rooted and grounded in love“ (Ephesians 3.17). Do you want to develop those same deeper spiritual roots? Would you like to be able to cultivate a listening heart? Do you long to be transformed to become more like Christ?

Rooted and Grounded is a retreat for those who want to tap into the rich wisdom and experience of the various Christian spiritual traditions: contemplative and charismatic, catholic and evangelical, political and personal. We’ll take time to find rest and refreshment in prayer, worship, silence and rest. And we’ll explore a wide range of spiritual practices you can take away with you to deepen your life of faith. You might want to be more resilient in the face of exhausting demands. You might be looking for a deeper foundation for your ministry. You might be wrestling with the question: how do I live a flourishing life? If so, this retreat is for you.

And for those who want to go further still, we hope to follow this retreat with regular gatherings (at the Abbey or on Zoom) to support one another as we develop our spiritual practice. This is a pilot project for us, so we don’t know exactly what shape this will take … come and pioneer it with us!

The team for this retreat is the Revd Roy Searle, Bishop Alan Abernathy, the Revd Alison Myers, and the Revd Chris Webb.

Revd Roy Searle

Roy is a Companion and one of the founders of the Northumbria Community. He has served as a past President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and is a founding member of Renovare Britain and Ireland. A popular conference speaker, writer, retreat leader, pioneer mentor and spiritual director, Roy is passionate about encouraging people to love God, listen well, think deeply, and live authentically and generously. He is an associate with the Northumbrian collective and The Commons Cooperative. He is married to Shirley and lives in their beloved Northumberland. They have four children and eight grandchildren.

Bishop Alan Abernathy

Alan was ordained in the Church of Ireland in 1981 and served in different parishes, and in 2007, he was ordained bishop and served in the Diocese of Connor until Dec 2019 when he retired on health grounds. He has written three books and the latest “The Jewel in the Mess” focused on how the incarnation helps us discover that God is with us in our mess. He has suffered from burnout and mental health and has found the need to refresh his resources to live in God. Married to Liz, they live in Ireland and have two children and two grandsons.

Revd Alison Myers

Alison came to Launde Abbey having been a Team Rector in rural ministry in Cambridgeshire. She has crafted and led many reflective services and gatherings using spoken word, music, silence and creative prayer stations. She is also an experienced workshop leader and mentor, combining spirituality and theology with the practical challenges of leadership, team-working and managing change, informed by her working life before she was ordained as well as theological study and lifelong faith. Alison loves praying outdoors, a good cup of coffee, noticing the cycle of the seasons and encouraging a wondering faith. She lives with her family on-site at Launde Abbey.

Revd Chris Webb

Chris Webb is an Anglican priest, author, speaker and teacher dedicated to helping people experience a richer walk with God by growing in prayer and the spiritual life. He has ministered in a wide variety of contexts: as president of Renovaré, a spiritual formation ministry in the USA; as parish priest in Welsh farming communities and steelworking towns; and even in a church for the homeless. Chris is the author of two books: The Fire of the Word (2011) and God-Soaked Life (2017).

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 28th July 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click below to book your place now on this retreat:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Beginners Retreat

Are you someone who has been away on a parish weekend, perhaps been to a quiet day or two, but never experienced a residential retreat? Are you unsure how you might cope with a retreat, what you might do with your time, or whether you can cope with the silence? Then this is the retreat for you!

The aim of this semi-silent retreat weekend is to help you enter the world of silent retreats gently and with plenty of support. There will be guidance on how to use the time; periods on your own and with the other retreatants, and the opportunity to share your experience with others if you wish to do so. During your stay at Launde Abbey, you can join in with the community’s rhythm of prayer and worship; walk, paint, potter or simply rest, as the Spirit takes you.

This retreat will be led by members of the Launde Abbey Community.

More information on our leaders coming soon…

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 11th July 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Inhabiting the Bible through story: The use of Imagination for Interpreting the Bible FULLY BOOKED

***FULLY BOOKED*** Inhabiting the Bible through Story: The use of Imagination for Interpreting the Bible: A Retreat Led by Dr Paula Gooder.

During this retreat, we will explore what using imagination contributes to our reading of Scripture and what is lost when we don’t use it in our reading. There will be input reflecting on imagination and what it brings to our understanding of scripture and lots of time for personal reflection.

About Paula:

Paula Gooder is a speaker and writer on the Bible, particularly on the New Testament. She began her working life, teaching for twelve years in ministerial formation first at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford and then at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham. Following this she spent around eight years as a speaker and writer in biblical studies travelling the country and seeking to communicate the best of biblical scholarship in as accessible a way as possible, after that she spent six years working for the Bible Society as their Theologian in Residence and then for the Birmingham Diocese as their Director of Mission Learning and Development. She is currently the Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

For more information: https://www.gooder.me.uk

Retreat price: £350 (standard room) or £380 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £330 (standard room) or £360 (character room) if booked by 20th November 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

***FULLY BOOKED***Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]

Holy Week with the Launde Abbey Community

Stay and pray as part of the Launde Abbey Community in Holy Week.

The days of the week will be structured around participation with the community in our daily services and each day will focus on one of the stories that leads towards the crucifixion and beyond. Each day will work as a stand-alone for those on 24-hour retreat, as well as a series through the week. There will be no led retreat addresses but some prompts for how to spend this special time.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to step aside for a while to dwell on the stories of this most significant week for Christians. So you can come for as much or little as of the week as you like, to travel with us or to dip in for a while.

We are still planning the details of what this will look like so bookings are not yet open. Please check back in later in the autumn, or watch out for news in our mailings and on social media.

Contemplative Photography Retreat: The Space Between 間

This is a Photography and Spirituality retreat based around the premise that the photographer’s stance is a way of slowing down and being attentive to the world (as God’s sacred text) around and God’s presence and proclamation within it. We will be using themes from the Old Testament book of Song of Songs, and Ignatian spiritual practices. There will also be an opportunity to explore poetry alongside photography. Cameras or camera phones will be useful, but not essential.

Morna is Vicar of Finedon and Assistant Vocations Officer in the Diocese of Peterborough. She has significant experience in teaching and facilitating learning, as well as leading retreats, and is currently training to be a Spiritual Director. Morna has a keen interest in Contemplative Spirituality and, having completed a research project which explored the use of photography as prayer which is missional, she has developed a number of spiritual photographical practices based around Ignatian Spirituality.

Retreat price: £495 (standard room) or £540 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £465 (standard room) or £510 (character room) if booked by 13th May 2025!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.

Click here to book your place on this retreat now:

For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]