I'm just going to interject some thoughts here. For those of you that don't know much about the Emmaus walk, let me give a very brief outline. It's a 3 day retreat. The people that are going through it for the first time are called pilgrims and people that have already gone through it and are the ones that have been preparing for the walk are called the team. The team is selected about 3 months before the walk and meets every week for 12 weeks before the walk. During this time the team is planning, preparing and getting to know each other better. Every time the team meets they take communion. ( Which I really injoyed ) This teaming process is taken very seriously and in my opinion is a very wonderful experience.
Well the team arrives at the facility before the pilgrims. In our area, there are about 30 teamers and about 35 to 40 pilgrims. The Pilgrims arive later and the first night is spent on just getting to know each other better. Then the following days, the program includes, a lot of contemporary praise singing, faith sharing, talks( which are basic seminary level sermons involving effectual calling, grace, sin, chrisitan action and so on) and a few other activities. In my opinion, the best thing about Emmaus is that it is a strong community of believers. Everything is done by the community. Once you have walked at Emmaus you are a part of the community. Being a part of the community, you can go to monthly gatherings where there is praise singing, faith sharing, a fourth day talk and communion. You can team for walks or just help out during the walk and or you can attend a small group or reunion group.
ok with saying all of this. Here are my concerns. Why should Emmaus almost be essential to spiritual growth? It seems like I hear from a lot of people in my church, "Have you gone through Emmaus?" That made me start to wonder, why does our church need an Emmaus program? If we are in dire need of a revival program like Emmaus to spur Christians on to maturity, then that says somthing about our church. And that in my opinion is a little sad. The main thing that I see that attracted me to Emmaus, Promise Keepers and listening to programs like BBN is that all these programs are passionate about Christ. They are serious about leading a biblical Christian walk. They don't beat around the bush. THAT is what I believe we're lacking in our church. Our church tried to have a "renewel" last year. Being Presbyterian It was decided that we should call it a renewel because revival is too baptist. But to make a long story short, it wasn't that renewing. It was light and not very convicting. My wife and I decided to join a renewel small group after that and we were considered I'm sure as a little fanatical by most of the couples.
I see our pastor's being very careful not to rock the boat. You wouldn't catch my pastor participating in any of the type of discussions we have on these boards. Our pastors are very careful not to offend anyone. In their opinion, it doesn't matter what type of Christian you are. They are very careful not to offend the non believer either. Fortunatly I'm talking about outside of the pulpit. I have to admit, our head pastor still has a good honost firery deliverance from the pulpit.
So to sum this all up. I believe that Emmaus can be a little too emotional. I've seen people walk that wern't ready to walk spiritualy that were very put off by the whole experiance. I believe in what Emmaus is trying to do but I don't know if I agree with the program. It's like using shock methods to quickly waken people up. The days are long and very full. They try to jam as much basic Christian 101 in as possible and everyday has more then one deeply emotional event. So when the pilgrims walk away from it, they have done allot of crying, walking, singing, standing, listening and hugging. It's a very intimate program, the pilgrims are encourage to put their arms around each other during singing and to hug each other. Which I really enjoyed also. But again, all this is done in a matter of three days. So when the team and pilgrims leave they are very drained emotionaly and physically. The old barriers of pride and self are attacked and broken down in the first day, then promoting a Christian world view, devotional Christian living and leading a neighbor loving life is then discussed and tought the following days. Which are all good but in my opinion again, not in such a short time. Again I have to ask myself why arn't we getting this in church. Why do people have to go to Emmaus to realize that God really is Sovereign, the bible is true through and through and we really should be loving each other and praying and studying the scriptures.
Sorry for the long post. This is somthing that I've been wrestling with in my mind now for a while. You know when you finish your walk in Emmaus, everyone is very carful to remind the pilgrims that they can't make Emmaus their church. That Emmaus isn't trying to be a substitute, that the whole reason for having an Emmaus walk is for the pilgrims to be able to take back to their church the love and joy they got from their walk. Well I took that charge very seriously. I have tried very hard to encourage my brothers and sisters in my fellow congregation and I still do. I send out e-mails, I have held bible school classes, I'm a leader in my men's ministry and I'm a deacon. But I have to admit, after being very pro-active for a couple of years now, I've throttled back allot in the last few months. I have realized that for one that my family comes first. My main ministry is to my family. Then after that I will serve the church. But I'm resorting to more of a one on one type of discipling. I find this much much more effective. I also find that bible studies and small groups is where I can be very effective also. When questions are raised in these more intimate evironments, I can be allot more effective in teaching the gospel and reformed theology. On Sunday, I just try to be enouraging to new and non believers. I try to lead them to bible studies and small groups and I'm very open to any questions.
May the Peace and Grace of our Lord be with you always. Thank you again for having such a wonderful site that we are allowed to come together to share our thoughts and ideas. As a former military man, I have to remind myself that there are allot of countries in the world today that persecute and execute Christians for having these types of discussions. God bless the countries that allow for free speech and religion.
Y.B.I.C,
Dave. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/coffee2.gif" alt="" />
