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Silence
& Retreats Network
Core Group Convener: Mike Playdon Editor: Keith Green
1 THE SILENCE AND RETREATS NETWORK is...
...a network: individuals, groups, congregations, sharing a common concern for the deepening of spiritual life, through silence, quiet days and retreats. It includes the Silence & Retreats link persons appointed by the Synods (we are short of a link person for West Midlands at the moment), spiritual directors, retreat givers, centres like High Chapel House and The Windermere Centre in Cumbria and the Aston Tirrold Centre for Reflection in Oxfordshire, individuals and congregations who subscribe to Windows, and the increasing number of people who attend quiet days. The lines which make up the net are the conversations, letters, phone calls, faxes and e-mails, the leaflets and introductory pack, the articles in Reform, the communications in the Information Service, the pages on the internet, and the reports to congregations, District Councils, Synods and General Assembly. The points where the lines meet are wherever an individual goes on retreat or meets with a spiritual director, the two or three meet for prayer, or a group comes together for a quiet day, training session, or retreat. So we are not an organisation, but a network.
2 A small core group services the network. It meets twice a year to do whatever is necessary to maintain the network and to promote silence, quiet days and retreats within the Church. Once a year we hold a residential consultation with the Synod link persons, to share news, concerns and experiences, to provide ‘in service training", and to offer mutual support and encouragement. Most of the ‘work’ is done in local, district and regional gatherings, and during the past year there has been around the country a variety of events: ‘drop-in’ days, retreats for Ministers, Hildegarde of Bingen, Easter reflections, Celtic spirituality, healing, hatred and heffalumps. The core group is responsible for nationally produced leaflets and the thrice-yearly journal Windows, and for keeping Silence and Retreats as high profile as possible within the structures of the Church. It is represented on the Doctrine Prayer and Worship committee and thus has access to the Church’s councils. A diminishing amount of financial support is received from that committee, and the network is largely self-supporting through gifts and subscriptions to Windows. In July there will be a training day at Aston Tirrold for those who are interested in leading retreats and quiet days, and probably another during 2000, and from 1st to 4th November 1999 a residential session at The Windermere Centre. We hope there will be a good take-up.
3 The core group is very conscious of the fact that ecumenical commitment is written into the fabric of the United Reformed Church (‘The United Reformed Church declares its intention, in fellowship with all the Churches, to pray and work for such visible unity of the whole Church as Christ wills and in the way he wills...’), so we count it a privilege to be involved in the work of the National Retreat Association. Soon to be re-named the Retreat Association, this Association comprises Christian retreat groups from Anglican, Baptist, Friends, Methodist, Roman Catholic and United Reformed traditions. We benefit enormously from what we learn from other communities, and are pleased to be able to share the particular spiritual heritage, which is ours in the Reformed tradition.
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