Course Leader:  John Bell

Course Date:  Monday 3 - Thursday 6 November

Course Options:  Residential £599, Non-Residential £409.00   (Early Bird R £569 NR £389.00 - Deadline: 03/08/25 )

Course Timings:  Course starts and ends with lunch

Course Code:  R2025

Course Information:

How can we, as individuals and as churches, think positively about the future when so much news and conjecture is bleak?  And how can we do that without retreating into pious platitudes, but with realism, hope and some biblical insight? This is the agenda for the weekend.

Joan Bakewell, the veteran BBC journalist spoke recently of how for her, as a teenager in the post war area, the future was full of potentials and delight. In comparison, she found it difficult to conjecture how a teenager might feel today when  considering future prospects given the uncertainties in the world, and the increase in mental health issues among the young. 

People of faith are called to dream dreams and see visions rather than become complaintive and despondent. And enthusiasm is best encouraged by dialogue rather than introspection.

In this short retreat we will be considering whether a faith which should essentially be liberating can offer constructive insights and positive pathways to the future. 

Course Leader:

John Bell is an ordained minister, a member of the Iona Community and a writer and occasional broadcaster. He teaches and lectures world-wide on issues of faith, social justice, music and liturgy.