{"id":13804,"date":"2019-01-15T18:57:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T18:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=13804"},"modified":"2019-07-18T18:59:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T18:59:36","slug":"outdoor-ministries-board-members-offer-innovative-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2019\/outdoor-ministries-board-members-offer-innovative-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdoor Ministries board members offer innovative retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"548\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/cultivating-a-verdant-faith.png\" alt=\"Cultivating a verdant faith outdoor ministry retreat\" class=\"wp-image-13782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/cultivating-a-verdant-faith.png 548w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/cultivating-a-verdant-faith-274x300.png 274w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>An innovative weekend retreat is offered this spring by board members of the Church of the Brethren Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA). Randall Westfall and Jonathan Stauffer are leading \u201cCultivating a Verdant Faith\u201d at Camp Emmaus in Mount Morris, Ill., on March 8-10.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Christian faith has something to contribute to how we care for creation,\u201d said a description of the retreat. \u201cInstead of being distracted by the politics of the day, we need a metanoia moment (Greek for to turn around) and the church needs to lead with hope and faith. Not a passive hope&#8211;waiting for external agencies to bring about what we desire; rather active hope&#8211;partnering with God to bring about what God desires because none of this is ours, it\u2019s on loan to us from the one who created it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stauffer and Westfall \u201chave come to believe that living attuned with God\u2019s creation is now essential to our discipleship with Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sessions will be held in a winter retreat lodge at Camp Emmaus. Each day will weave eco-practices into the fabric of discipleship and spiritual formation by exploring four directions of eco-discipleship along with Bible study, worship, and group discussions. Ages 18 and up are invited to \u201cunplug and rediscover the eco-blueprint of faith that our Creator gave us.\u201d Ministers who attend may earn .8 continuing education units. The registration fee of $75 includes six meals and two nights\u2019 stay.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, a brochure, or to register contact Jonathan Stauffer,\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:staufferjp@gmail.com\">staufferjp@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0or 815-973-0247, or Randall Westfall,\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ancientpaths.os@gmail.com\">ancientpaths.os@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0or 231-867-3618. For more about the Outdoor Ministries Association and Church of the Brethren camping go to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.brethren.org\/camps\">www.brethren.org\/camps<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An innovative weekend retreat is offered this spring by board members of the Church of the Brethren Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA). Randall Westfall and Jonathan Stauffer are leading \u201cCultivating a Verdant Faith\u201d at Camp Emmaus in Mount Morris, Ill., on March 8-10. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1296,1273],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-13804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-outdoor-ministries","tag-spiritual-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13805,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13804\/revisions\/13805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13804"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=13804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}