St Simon's Church Southsea

Day Retreats

God's given us a vision for taking people away on Day Retreats.

We find that many people these days have to live life at a fast pace and with many pressures to confront. Expectations and demands on individuals can be high and can come from all directions and in a variety of ways: e.g. work, college, school, family, friends, church, finance, time etc. We're expected to cope with all these pressures but for some people this can be very difficult and stressful. Life can feel like running on a treadmill and it can be hard just to stop and spend some quality time with God. Without such quality time, it can feel like 'running on empty' – and just like a car, sooner or later, we'll roll to a stop!

So to take people away on Day Retreats – we believe that it's something close to God's heart. On numerous occasions, Jesus Himself made a point of getting away from the pressures around Him to spend time alone with God the Father. It was at such times that He was able to pour out His heart to God and receive power and direction for whatever was to come next in His ministry

So against this background, we’d like to help by taking people away from their normal surroundings to an environment that has an atmosphere of calm and stillness. During the day, there is opportunities for:

• quiet prayer and reflection – both individually and as a group
• worship
• Bible study and teaching
• Christian fellowship and sharing together
• walking in the grounds or the countryside.

We encourage people to meet with God at whatever level they can, while also inviting the Holy Spirit to bring refreshing and whatever else He desires for their lives. It is also a good time for fellowship and friendship with other Christians.

Practical Aspects

• Each group consists of six people (excluding ourselves) and there is a minimum age of 17 – but no maximum age!
• Retreats take place on a Saturday, meeting at St. Simon's at 9am and then taking the mini-bus to the venue to arrive/start about 10am. We aim to arrive back at St. Simon's by 5pm.
• The venue for the retreats is 'High House' in Stroud, near Petersfield. It's a lovely place for a retreat, set in a very nice location and has excellent facilities for this type of activity.
• The cost is £10 per person – simply enough to cover the use of the house and towards petrol costs. Each person brings a packed lunch but this is supplemented by home-made soup made on the premises. No financial profit is made.
• Part of the day includes one or two teaching sessions which are done by one or both of us and/or teaching played on audio/video/dvd etc. There is usually a theme to the teaching and we are also thinking of running some future retreats for particular groups of people such as singles, married couples, parents, school-teachers etc.

We run the retreats on a regularly basis, about once every 3 months. If you're interested in going on one, please give your name to one of us.

For more information or to 'book' a place on a future retreat please contact the church office.

Larry and Sue Oster
June 2005