OUR INVITATION:
“To leave the pulls + pace of modern life…
and enter into a rhythm of prayer & worship, table fellowship, and creativity.”
FRANCE MISSIONAL RETREAT
Join us as we return to Normandy, France for our annual missional retreat at Bethanie Center for Transformation, hosted by our friends of “The Bless Network” and the Franklin Prayer House. For those considering returning again this summer, we will be adding a number of unique elements to this experience from our last visit (not a repeat trip!). If you have not joined us before, it’s an experience you don’t want to miss!
WHAT KIND OF TRIP IS THIS?
This is not a traditional missions trip! If one would ask, “What’s the heart of this trip?” we might answer in the following manner:
Our heart for you personally: our main goal for you is a formational retreat experience, with missional impact. For individuals and families, our goal would be for each to have a “retreat experience” of spiritual formation & healing (drawing from the ministry of the France missions base) while also taking part in Holy Spirit’s missional heart for France & Europe… we desire each to play a part in blessing France and the work of the Gospel there through prayer, worship, creative arts, “hydrating” the missions team, and partnering with their refugee work.
Our heart as a church: our main goal as a church is a long-term missional relationship in France… to establish a long-term relationship with a missional community into France & Europe, and to both receive from the missions team & their ministry, as well as pour into the work they are forging.
THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM EXCHANGE
We believe that each trip we take as a church family brings a beautiful heavenly exchange of grace & power with our friends who are bringing the Kingdom into France! It blows us away how each of us who goes receives SO much healing & refreshing, while seeing our deposit bring SO much encouragement, strength, and momentum to their work!
WHEN: June 18-24, 2024
WHERE: BETHANIE CENTER FOR TRANSFORMATION
319 La Hanoudière, Heutevent, 14140 Livarot Pays D’Auge, Calvados, France
COST: does NOT include travel (These costs are estimates with exact costs being given by April)
$699/adult
$199/child 5+
$99/childcare fee for those under 5 (we plan to have childcare during sessions available;)
Additional Days at Bethanie:
$75/day per adult
$40 per child 5+
No charge for children under 5
INCLUDES: Lodging, food (2 meals/day), and retreat, creative arts sessions & materials, teaching, as well as trip admin, a small gift for the missions base, and childcare during training sessions. This cost does not include lunches, other meals when traveling, or travel costs of airfare or rental car.
TRAVEL: We ask everyone to book their own travel (we can connect everyone for those that want to travel together & share car rentals, etc). Typically, flying into Paris CDG and renting a car is cheapest/simplest. It’s approximately a 2.5 hour drive from Paris.
Please arrive at Bethanie by evening of June 18.
The “program” will run Wed, June 19 through Sunday, June 23… check out will be Monday, June 24.
You are welcome to arrive at Bethanie as early as June 17th, and stay as long as June 25. (Additional days for a charge- see above)
PROGRAM: “To enter into a rhythm of prayer & worship, table fellowship, and creativity.”
What to Expect?
Each day is shaped by a rhythm of prayer + worship… Getting away from the pulls and rhythms of modern society in order to reorient our lives around God’s voice + Presence.
Daily sessions of inspiring teaching from international speakers and leaders of The Bless Network, Gerard and Chrissie Kelly
Teaching sessions take place in our Lacey Room which is a relaxed informal environment with plenty of tea and coffee on tap
Daily worship and prayer hosted by Ryan & Karen Hall of the Franklin Prayer House, in the beautiful prayer room at Béthanie with plenty of space to enjoy the presence of God
Time to respond to and process the teaching through journaling, worship, art and walks in the countryside around Béthanie
Opportunity to meet one-on-one with a Bless Team Mentor for prophetic prayer ministry
Missional opportunities working with a refugee community and Bless church plants in Livarot and Caen
Community: we enjoy delicious home-cooked meals together around the table in our Apple Barn
Our week-long retreat + missions experience is an immersive journey into God’s heart for you and his missional heart for the world. We will be delving into what it means to be rooted and established in our identity as sons and daughters of God, and for our worship and creativity to flow out from that place.
Our days will be shaped by a rhythm of prayer and worship, table fellowship and creativity, working in collaboration with their Seven Stories school. Teaching will be interchanged with creative workshops with opportunities for creative outlet opportunities. We will grow together & even have opportunity to serve together a local African refugee community in the city of Caen.
THE EXPERIENCE
Our missional retreat takes place at ‘Bethanie;’ an old converted cider farm set in 5 acres of French countryside. Equipped with a large guest house, a presence soaked prayer room, and the “apple barn” - our communal eating space - Bethanie is a place that will change your heart forever.
Whether you call yourself an artist or have seen art as part of your retreat or spiritual formation experience in the past – we are all creative, being made in the image of a creator God and we invite you to come to France and get caught up in how much your Father loves you, how much he intends for you, and how incredibly fruitful your life is when you embrace the depths of his love.
You will be surprised at the healing & refreshing that will take place in your life when you intentionally put yourself in a space like this, with a community like this. There is more for you- come & discover it!
KIDS
There will be a special “VBS Style” kids program available and child care during main sessions. Lodging at Bethanie allows families to stay “on-site” and be accessible and still able to engage in activities, worship, or ministry while children sleep or nap. It is truly a family-friendly environment!
WHAT IS SEVEN STORIES?
THE SEVEN STORIES SCHOOL IS A JOURNEY . . .
…into the purposes of God. Exploring the bible’s story from creation to restoration, the school is time set aside in a place of beauty to absorb great teaching, to lean into the rescue that is in the Father’s heart, to discover his passion for your future, to grow in boldness and courage and to learn what it is to live in the full current of his blessing. The school will empower you to connect more deeply with your God-given inheritance and to search out the treasures that come from intimacy with the Father, Son and Spirit - embracing the value God places on you and the value he asks you to place on others. Check out their website.
If you're tired of being forced to choose between experience and action, between receiving good news and being good news, the Seven Stories school is for you.
WHAT IS ATELIER CREATE?
“Atelier”: ‘a workshop or studio, especially one used by an artist or designer.’
Atelier is a collective of worshippers & artisans connected globally through friendship and a shared heart to pursue and release the presence of God through the arts.
The journey of the artist is a journey of discovering who we are created to be. When we know our identity as sons and daughters of a loving Father and our art reflects this, we invite people into an experience of love and wholeness; and ultimately an encounter with the living God. We believe that art created through surrender to Jesus has the power to release the kingdom of heaven on earth.
We want to see the Church become the ultimate workshop or studio as it embraces and releases artists to make all things new. Check out their website or instagram.
WHY FRANCE?
As a bit of background, after years of words from Holy Spirit regarding a missional heart for France, we have begun (as of April 2018) building relationship with an amazing ministry based in the Normandy region of northern France. While we do not feel this is our exclusive relationship/ministry partnership for Frontier in France or the nations by any means, we do feel it the place we are meant to begin to really put roots into after a brief but wonderful visit in April 2018 & taking our first team in the summer of 2019.
We believe France will be a key foundational nation for Frontier to invest in for years to come. This trip is still in the beginning season of a journey to ask Holy Spirit what does this look like for us? We sense we are forging new “norms” for the ways a local church partners in the work of the gospel in other nations… France is a complex nation- being western, “Catholic”, post-Christian, agnostic, and a hot-bed of refugee activity, immigration, and political uprising- it is a melting pot of the nations of the world and is fast changing to no longer reflect the nation of old! We hope you’ll consider joining us! -Christian & Sue
THE 4 VALUES OF THE BLESS NETWORK AT THE BETHANIE CENTER FOR TRANSFORMATION
NORMANDY, FRANCE
THE TENT… represents our commitment to a life of worship. We choose to give ourselves to the pursuit of God’s presence, holding at the centre of our lives and activities the commitment to seek intimacy with Father, Son and Spirit.
THE TABLE… speaks of our calling to build community. We chose to give ourselves to community, celebrating human interaction, accepting all God brings to us and building authentic community on the model of the shared meal table.
THE TREASURE… represents our determination to seek the fullness of God’s kingdom. We choose to give ourselves to the pursuit of personal growth, inviting God to overcome in us the barriers to fruitfulness and seeking for ourselves and for each other the full expression of God’s gifts and graces in our lives.
THE TOWEL… speaks of our willingness to serve those in need. We choose to give ourselves to the loving service of others, finding the presence of Jesus in our interactions with those whose needs outweigh our own.