It was quite an experience – offering ourselves to the wider public on our first residential retreat. As a team we enjoy each other’s company, are good friends and find our conversations very stimulating. Our commitment to listen well, think deeply and live authentically is matched by our desire to encourage others to do the same. We want to share the fruits of our conversations and to invite other people to the table to participate. So, the idea of a residential retreat was born and what an amazing time we had, not just the team but those who came as retreatants.

We were hosted by the wonderfully hospitable Scargill Community in the glorious setting of their centre in the Yorkshire Dales. The retreat drew people of all different ages, backgrounds and experiences of life and faith. And it was a gloriously full house.

Each day was framed around a typical monastic rhythm that included praying alone and together, input from the team, eating with the Scargill Community and lots of time and space to rest, relax and reflect on listening well, thinking deeply and living authentically. Our formal input as a team consisted of three of us sharing briefly, (max 10 mins each) each day. We also offered some additional sessions: an awareness walk, principles of intercession, Lectio Divina and a seminar on living authentically. We were delighted, and a little surprised, that each of these drew so many participants.

We also learned through the process what a privilege and joy it is to trust God who (like the child in the gospel story of the Feeding of the 5000) took our small offerings and witnessed how God blessed so many people, beyond any of our expectations. Similarly, inviting people to be part of Travelling Companion groups, (3 or 4 retreatants randomly selected) to meet together at various intervals. A bit of an experiment but one that worked beautifully. Lives were shared, joys and pains, discoveries and discernment, and everyone was listened to and prayed for. What is certain is that connections and friendships were made that will continue way beyond one week together. We are still reflecting on the stories that were shared with us, and those that are recorded on the feedback forms. So many accounts telling of the goodness of God in meeting with people, and for some in deep and profound ways.

An added bonus for us was the joy of adding another member to the Collective team. The existing team had met together for a day earlier in the summer and sensed that we needed to add more people to our team. We shared names that had come to us, and we ended the day by committing ourselves to a period of prayerful discernment, waiting on God with the names of those we were considering uppermost in our minds. Before the Scargill retreat we had agreed to have a conversation with someone who we were delighted to discover was coming on the retreat with her husband. The conversation was easy and flowed naturally and we had no hesitation, nor did she hesitate in responding positively to join our team. So, we are delighted to introduce to you Julie Bryan, whose bio you can read on our website. Simon also has a conversation with Julie on our blog. I’ve known Julie for over a decade. We were students on the creative leadership in the rural church course run by the Arthur Rank Centre. I’ve also had the privilege of encouraging Julie to respond to God’s call upon her life as a pioneer minister, something she didn’t think was initially possible within our denominational structures. Simon has also known Julie as a fellow pioneer and Dave met her six years ago at a gathering for pioneers at Scargill. It is with great joy that we welcome her to the Collective.

And so, what was something of an experiment for us has been one we are hugely encouraged by. In the words of the Northumbria Community Morning Office blessing, which was sung to us by the Scargill Community on our final morning together, we have returned home “rejoicing at the wonders He has shown us”.