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The Skinny on Emmaus Walks

A friend and fellow classmate, and member of the United Methodist church, raves about Emmaus Walks. I honestly don't know a great deal about them except the basics, that it is a 4 day renewal journey to enhance your spiritual walk.

I'd love to hear you all's take on Emmaus Walks.

Tags: emmaus, growth, spiritual, walk

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Permalink Reply by Rey Reynoso on July 2, 2009 at 9:03am: I never heard about them.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lisa Robinson on July 2, 2009 at 9:11am: Heh, let the research begin

Rey Reynoso said:
I never heard about them.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by xulon on July 2, 2009 at 9:20am: My brother was on the coordinating board for Emmaus Walks in the Rochester (NY) area. I'm a little vague on the details of his involvement and he may still be involved, but he was quite enthusiastic about it. It is a four day retreat. One aspect I remember was when his son was going on the weekend. Several weeks ahead of the event, my brother wrote me asking for me to write an appreciation of my nephew. This was to be sent to my brother and as a climax to the event, my nephew was given a stack of letters written by significant people in his life expressing appreciation for him as a person. Sounds quite powerful.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lisa Robinson on July 2, 2009 at 9:23am: Xulon, yes that does sound powerful. Although I have heard criticism of them as well.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by xulon on July 2, 2009 at 9:26am: What are the criticisms? I would assume they are Wesleyan (and probably somewhat Keswick) in theology, but I take it that's not what you are referring to.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lisa Robinson on July 2, 2009 at 9:28am: Gnostic leanings

xulon said:
What are the criticisms? I would assume they are Wesleyan (and probably somewhat Keswick) in theology, but I take it that's not what you are referring to.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rey Reynoso on July 2, 2009 at 9:31am: So I'm reading up on it. They say it's ecumenical, unifying, and focused on the Christian basics. They are organizational to ensure that the material is the same across the board. I'd like to know what they're teaching as the basics.

All in all, it sounds (in structure anyway) no different from the men's Bible Conference that I used to go to, but who changed their format. You can only go if someone who has gone there invites you; it's four days of study, worship, prayer and fellowship; it is not mandated; it is geared toward servant-leadership.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rey Reynoso on July 2, 2009 at 9:35am: Okay, found more. I'm not digging the little group that gets formed in your community though. Like, the principle of equipping and sending back home isn't foreign to me, but this idea of getting together with other people who have done the Emmaus Walk program on a weekly basis and "sharing the stories of their walk with Christ" starts to sound like something we should be doing with the Church in general...why do it with an off-shoot?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Raquel on July 2, 2009 at 9:56am: Never heard of 'em but I'm curious why you suggest "gnostic leanings?"

Lisa Robinson said:
Gnostic leanings

xulon said:
What are the criticisms? I would assume they are Wesleyan (and probably somewhat Keswick) in theology, but I take it that's not what you are referring to.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Craig Falvo on July 2, 2009 at 9:56am: Lisa,
I attended a Via de Cristo weekend (very similar to Emmaus Walks) during my intern year in seminary. The group I was in was very eccumenical, mostly Lutheran but also included Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. It was in intensive and intense weekend. The presentations (there were 13 of them) centered around grace and living in grace and, like Rey said, they are pretty much standard although some variation is allowed as the presenter makes the presentation their own. After each presentation, the larger group broke off into smaller groups and did something (usually an arts and crafts type of thing) to convey what the presentation meant for them.

I thought it was interesting, but probably not something I would do again. I find it a bit exclusive as you can only attend the weekend if you're invited by someone who has gone (in my case, it was the pastor who determined who went and it was usually people who were "more mature" in their faith). Also, members from the church who had gone on a Via de Cristo weekend met once a month separate from the rest of the church to talk about thier spiritual journey. Again, I agree with Rey, if it is so important, why make it an exclusive off-shoot?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rey Reynoso on July 2, 2009 at 10:12am: Okay, I'm finding weird stuff now about them having a secret path toward contemplative spirituality focused on pietism, special readings,special study, prayer-walks and mantra: need to research this more.

Also, they said that they came up with this from the Catholic Cursillo and they brought it over to Protestantism, but I don't see anything wrong with that unless there was something wrong with it to begin with.

I'm surprised how big this is. It's all over the place. Lisa may have stumbled upon The New Masons. If she disappears, we heard it here first.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rey Reynoso on July 2, 2009 at 10:16am: Also, correction on something I said earlier. I said it was four days since I kept reading about the fourth day. Apparently it is a 3-day program but the fourth day is going back into the World with what you were spiritually renewed with. So everyone who takes the 3-day course is doing so to focus on The 4th Day...Back to the World.; ▶ Reply to This