In 2017, the Trustees of APR embarked on three new projects to encourage Spiritual Growth. Follow the links below (highlighted in blue) to learn about a variety of Spiritualities, to find Courses and Resources for you to use either as individuals or in small groups, or to access a kind of Marketing Tool-Kit for your Retreat House/Centre.

In 2019, we added extra resources to help you arrange a Week of Accompanied Prayer in your own area, and we will continue to add new resources as they become available.

1. Encountering Spirituality

Explore this section if you are looking to learn about different spiritualities. There are three sections – the first addresses traditional spiritualities (eg, Celtic, Benedictine, Ignatian, Franciscan etc); the second explores life ‘agendas’ and transitions (eg, identity, gender, belonging, later years, etc), and the final section introduces recent role models of the spiritual life (eg, Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, etc).

2. Signposts for Spiritual Growth

Many churches and dioceses have produced outstanding resources for growing in spirituality, which deserve a wider audience. This section of the website provides links to these resources, all of which are directly downloadable from external websites for your own use. (Please note that although the APR has approved these links at the time of creating this page, and will do its very best to check and update them, we claim no responsibility for their content, or for any views contained within them).

3. Marketing Tool-Kit for Retreat Houses

Published in March 2020, this beautifully-produced guide, entitled Spreading the Word, offers some practical ideas to help Retreat Houses of all denominations reach out to a wider audience. These include ideas on how to best utilise online and social media promotion, as well as how to promote the value of retreat through more traditional local, regional and national channels. In an increasingly frenetic and consumeristic world, we offer this guide as a way to further encourage and stimulate your efforts to spread the word about the transforming value of retreat.

Spreading the Word is available to download for free here as a pdf file, and comes with our blessings for your ongoing ministries. However, if you would like a hard copy, you can purchase one online (using Paypal) through this link, or by emailing the APR Administrator on promoting.retreats@gmail.com.

4. Weeks of Accompanied Prayer

Weeks of Accompanied Prayer are effectively ‘retreats from home’. They combine daily meetings with a Spiritual Guide and guided private prayers, over the course of a week, and all in your local area. This resource will tell you all you need to know either as a participant, or an organiser.

5. Monthly Reflection

Starting in January 2020, and at regular intervals, we will publish a Reflection which you may wish to use during your own daily prayers or meditation. These will include a photographic image (taken by APR Chair, the Revd Barry Preece), alongside a short poetic reflection. They are also available to download.