Renewal Retreats: A Restful Blessing for Alumni

As students transform into alumni, it is a strong conviction of Asbury Seminary that they remain a vital part of our community. Just as we seek to support our students with rigorous theological education and spiritual formation while they are still students, Asbury Seminary is dedicated to supporting our alumni in their current contexts.

Asbury for Life is an initiative of the Alumni Office aimed at this exact goal. Among the many resources offered through this initiative are spiritual retreats for alumni called Renewal Retreats.

“Renewal Retreats are for alumni or people in ministry for rest and refreshing,” says Suzanne Simon, the Renewal Retreats Coordinator. “Ministry could be in a religious setting, in a church, or ministry in business or NGOs.”

The idea of Renewal Retreats was dreamed up 10 years ago by a group of Seminary staff that included Tammy Cessna, the Director of Alumni and Church Relations, and Marilyn Elliott, the former Vice President for Spiritual Formation. The group wanted to think of means by which the Seminary could continue to provide care for alumni well after graduation. Retreats seemed like an obvious way to provide such care. “They sat down and tried to figure out if they were going to go on a retreat, what would they like to have happen?” Suzanne says.

From this brainstorm of elements to renew the mind, body, and spirit, Renewal Retreats were born. “The whole idea is to welcome people on campus and make them feel totally at home and totally part of everything,” Suzanne says. “Asbury Seminary is here for the long haul.” Suzanne became the coordinator in Fall 2023 and has since crafted over 16 unique retreat experiences for alumni and leaders. “One hundred percent customized,” Suzanne says. “Whoever is interested gets in touch with me, and then I send them a questionnaire to fill out. That’s what I use to craft each retreat to the person’s specific desires.”

Retreatants typically stay at the Asbury Inn & Suites and may choose from many experiences and resources available on campus or nearby to build their retreat schedule. These options include a professional massage, visits to the gym, a session with a personal fitness trainer, a professional counseling session, a meeting with a professor, and a pastoral care session. Additionally, retreatants can participate in aspects of campus life including class visits, attending chapel and Daily Eucharist, studying in the library, and using the chapels on campus for silence, solitude, and individual prayer walks. “The only thing that every retreat has in common is pastoral care,” Suzanne says. “Pastoral care is part of the retreat experience. Nobody has said, ‘No, I want to come on a spiritual retreat, but I don’t want pastoral care.’”

The feedback from alumni, leaders, and pastors who utilize this resource is overwhelmingly positive. Many retreatants express gratitude for having space to seek the Lord as well as being made to feel part of the Seminary and campus life for a brief period.

On one special occasion, a group of Methodist pastors who have been friends for decades came together for a Renewal Retreat. The cause for their retreat? Half of the group’s churches had just transitioned to the Global Methodist Church while the other half remained United Methodist. “So they came on retreat to see what it would look like for them to maintain their relationship with each other,” Suzanne says. “They sat in on different ethics classes, on doctrine classes, had conversations with Dr. Hampton and Dr. Johnson [and Dr. Collins] over lunch.”

One person from this group expressed gratitude for Asbury Seminary hosting a time and space that helped encourage their unity, despite denominational differences. “I have not had a theologically intense conversation like we did at lunch on Tuesday since I was in Seminary,” the comment reads. “[The professors] engaged us and they visited with us for a most generous amount of time.”

Suzanne sees the benefit of offering a space for rest and rejuvenation both for the individuals and for Asbury Seminary’s global impact. “Healthy people create healthy communities,” she says. “So, people are coming on Renewal Retreat from all over the place and will meet God here. Then when they go back to their home church or business or organization, they’ll be taking that kind of health where God has met them and spreading it where they are.”

To learn more about Renewal Retreats, click here.