Well-Being Retreat

Well-Being Retreat offers a unique opportunity to explore wholeness through a spiritual, health, financial, and vocational lens. Well-Being Retreat 2023 was hosted August 21-23 in Montreat, North Carolina.

Well-Being Retreat can help you become more deeply rooted in your life and ministry. This annual gathering is sponsored by The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in partnership with the Presbyterian Foundation.

Who should attend

Active and retired members of the Benefits Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — including ministers, employees, spouses, and surviving spouses — are welcome.

For all participants, Well-Being Retreat offers time away from the usual routines to think, breathe, and renew. It is also an opportunity for ministers to recall and renew their CREDO vows and learnings.

What you'll learn

At Well-Being Retreat, you will:

  • increase your understanding of the value of living a whole and balanced life
  • develop/refine strategies and practices to thrive in your daily life
  • gain knowledge on topics you choose
  • renew your relationship with God, God's creation, and God's claim on your life

This annual gathering is an opportunity to participate in worship, fellowship, learning, and reflection. Each retreat centers on a different theme, always related to wholeness.

Well-Being Retreat 2023

View the Well-Being Retreat 2023 photo album.

More than 70 active and retired ministers and employees of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), spouses, and surviving spouses gathered at Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina for Well-Being Retreat 2023.

The tranquil beauty of Montreat reinforced this year’s theme: Imagine. Create. Discover. The theme draws from Genesis 1:1 and Isaiah 43:19, reminding us that God is about creation and re-creation, new beginnings, and, eventually, making all things new. The universe exists — we exist — because God imagined and then created.

Workshop topics and speakers

The retreat featured Celebrating Sabbath for Clergy Spouses, a workshop by Julie Anderman, Founder and Executive Director of Artos Retreats. Two workshops, Rekindle Your Soul Fire: The Power of Creativity and Imagination to Transform our Lives and Writing Your Memoirs, Leaving a Legacy, were presented by the Reverend Sherry Blackman, a pastor, author, and award-winning journalist.

Additional workshop titles included Imagining the Kingdom through Parables and Poetry; Creativity Corner; and Imagining New Beginnings: Healthy Transitions for Spouses, Clergy, and Couples.

Participants also had the opportunity to worship and engage in daily prayer as part of the Well-Being Retreat experience and to take time to enjoy the beauty of Montreat.

“I learned that I need to slow down and be still. Listen more closely to hear God’s whispers of love, hope, encouragement, forgiveness, and grace.”

— Well-Being Retreat Participant

Questions?

Email us.