The Association for Promoting Retreats (APR) was founded in 1913 to promote the development of the Christian life through retreats, particularly within the Anglican Communion.

Today the APR works in partnership with the Retreat Association. We are the largest of the RA’s founding member groups, serving alongside each other in strengthening the understanding and importance of retreats within our own Church traditions and to promote the value of retreats: for individuals, for the Church, and for society as a whole. Take a look around and discover how a retreat could be just what you are looking for.

A selection of members’ events is shown below – find more by clicking the Noticeboard heading.

Noticeboard

A date for your diaries!

The 2018 APR Annual General Meeting will take place at St Columba’s House, Woking at 2pm on Thursday 8th November.

The AGM follows the 48-hour APR Retreat, ‘Take off your shoes’, led by APR President, Rt Revd John Stroyan. The retreat will culminate in a celebration of Holy Communion at 11.30 am, which you are welcome to attend. The APR will subsidise the cost of your two-course lunch, at 12.30pm, before the business part of the day, the AGM, begins at 2pm. We will finish with afternoon tea and homemade cake at approx. 3.30pm.

All members, and non-members, are welcome. We do, however, ask for a donation of £10 per person for the use of the facilities at St Columba’s House, which is payable either in advance (please send me a cheque made payable to the ‘Association for Promoting Retreats’), or in cash on the day. For catering purposes, please email us (promoting.retreats@gmail.com) by Friday 26th October, at the latest, to say whether you will be attending, and whether you have any dietary (or other) requirements.

‘Take off your Shoes’: Retreat at St. Columba’s House

Tuesday 6th – Thursday 8th November 2018

Led by our new President, Bishop John Stroyan, and entitled ‘Take your shoes off’, this retreat is an opportunity to turn aside and see not only that the ground upon which we stand is holy, but that the holy ground of God is already deep within us. Led by Bishop John, it will incorporate a gentle rhythm of prayer and silent meditation, balanced by times of fellowship and reflection.

Booking forms are available to download here, by email from promoting.retreats@gmail.com, or by post, by telephoning (01395) 272243.

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Resources for Spiritual Growth

The APR website is expanding, with a range of new resources soon to be available – the first of these are already published under the tab, ‘Signposts for Spiritual Growth’. These ‘signposts’ direct readers to a wealth of top-quality pages across the internet, concerning all aspect of prayer, spiritual formation, and growth in faith. The pages, ‘Encountering Spirituality’, will be a virtual library of documents exploring both traditional spiritualities, contemporary role models and ‘life moments and transitions’. In early 2019, we will also be publishing a ‘Marketing Tool-Kit for Retreat Centres / Houses’.