No. 7's First Personalised Retreat
The following day the first ever 36 hour personalised retreat hosted from No. 7 Wallace Green took place. The retreatant had come by train from an inner city. How does a 'village of God' emerge in a deprived housing estate? Some networks encourage such would-be pioneers to adopt the APEST model: the core group need to have an Apostle, a Prophet, an Evangelist, a Shepherd and a Teacher (Ephesians 4:11). However, these are examples, they are not prescriptive. The retreatant wanted to explore further models, such as the monastic, because he wanted his core pioneer group to build community at the heart of this needy area. For this to happen a spiritual parent (abba and/or amma) may be needed, as well as a prior (manager) and a spiritual discernment accompanier, or soul friend.