Christian Contemplative Retreat Resources

Design Your Own Retreat

Sometimes it is nice to have someone lead you on a retreat.

NEWIM leaders offer short videos and worship playlists to lead you on a Jesus-centered, spiritual retreat.

You can create your own online retreat experience. Select the components (a prayer, a spiritual practice, a reading of Scripture, worship videos), then create a playlist to watch during your retreat.

May the Lord bless you as you spend time with him.

Print Resources

Christian Devotional Practices | Tips for Designing your Retreat

A Time for Reflection by Jackie Rettberg Several possible passages of Scripture to explore during your retreat.

A Quick Look - Various passages to consider as you reflect on what might be standing between you and the Lord. Prepared by Jackie Rettberg

Book List: Additional Reading

Booklets for Reflection from The Springs Retreats

Christian Devotional Practices, compiled by Luann Budd

Christian Spiritual Exercises by Luann Budd

Concluding Your Retreat “After Your Lunch with Jesus” by Jackie Rettberg

Design Your Own Retreat: 3-hour, 5-hour, or 24-hour retreat

Four Suggestions for Entering Into Silence and Solitude by Luann Budd

How to Structure an Hour of Silence and Solitude

Lectio Divina by Kim Johnson

Lectio Divina in Practice by Kim Johnson

Oasis Retreat Facilitator’s Guide and Retreat Schedule by Jackie Rettberg

Practicing the Presence of God by Elaine Russell

Prayer of Examen: Looking for Light and Grace by Luann Budd

Psalm 103, A Guided Meditation by Jackie Rettberg

The Lord Is - A Partial List of the Names of God by Jackie Rettberg

Thoughts on Silence from Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on Solitude from Henri Nouwen

Tips for Preparing to Attend an Online Retreat

Visio Divina by Luann Budd

What if God is Silent? by Luann Budd

Why Retreat to Spend Time Alone? by Luann Budd

Worship without Words by Luann Budd

Individual Video Segments

Select one or more of these video segments to use during your retreat. Once you click on the link, you will have the option to save it as part of a new playlist in YouTube. You might also want to save your favorite worship music videos (or select from the Worship Playlists below) to your new playlist.

Quieting our Minds - 4 minutes. Luann shares ways to quiet our minds as we begin a retreat.

Clearing Away Distractions - 3 minutes. Luann introduces freewriting as a way to clear away distractions.

Placing Ourselves in Christ’s Presence - 5 minutes. Luann leads us in a prayer that helps us to intentionally be aware that we are in Christ's presence.

Thinking about Worship - 12 minutes. Luann leads us to settle into a retreat and shares about worship, helping us prepare our hearts to be focused and ready to begin.

Prayer of Examen - choose from various options and learn a little more about Examen

Confession - choose from various options to learn more about Confession from C.S. Lewis and listen to the prayers of confession from a variety of sources.

Lectio Divina - choose from various options and learn a little more about Lectio.

Imaginative Prayer - (Praying Scripture) - 15 min. Christy leads us in praying Matthew 11:28-30 helping us to hear the Lord’s invitation as we pray through this passage.

Praying and Meditating on Scripture using Prayer Beads - 1 hour 45 min. Jenny Lynn Estes leads a workshop on how to create a prayer time that is very Christ-centered, using Scripture as the focus. She introduces us to the use of prayer beads as a tool for helping us to engage our heart in prayer while we meditate on the Word of God. She shows us how the Anglican (Protestant) rosary is intended to be a road map for our prayer time—the Cross is where we begin and end. Learn more about Jenny on her website or read her book, The Anglican Rosary: Going Deeper with God—Prayers and Meditations with the Protestant Rosary. Download these two documents to go along with her workshop: Armor of God, Psalm 23.

Scripture Readings - choose from a variety of Old and New Testament Bible passages, including the I AM statements of Jesus, read reflectively with time for reflection.

Dialogue Journaling - 15 minutes. Jackie shares one of her favorite ways of engaging with the Word of God. Hidden Treasures a workbook to use for Dialogue Journaling is available for purchase.

Writing a Letter to Jesus - 7 minutes. Luann leads us in writing a letter to Jesus in our journals. A nice way to conclude a retreat.

Visio Divina - 20 minutes. Luann introduces Visio Divina then leads the viewer through how to use art as a window of devotion to discern the invitation of Jesus. Rembrandt's, Prodigal Son, and Henri Nouwen's writings about the painting are featured.

Art Journaling - 3 minutes. Luann introduces the value of creating our own art and reflecting on what the Lord shows us through what we have created in our Art Journal. The results can be insightful and surprising.

Journal Keeping - 18 minutes. Luann introduces the art of keeping a journal. She shares key principles we all need to know and talks about how to begin.

Journaling Possibilities - 8 minutes. Luann reviews the key ideas from the introduction to Journal Keeping and talks about various possibilities for what you might want to write about.

Anabel’s Story - 6 minutes. Luann reads Claire Cloninger’s, Anabel’s Story, and invites us to spend 3 minutes reflecting on it.

Video Compilations: Devotional Segments with Worship Videos

Placing Ourselves in the Presence of our Three-Person, Triune God 40 minutes. Begin with Luann leading you in a prayer of Francis deSalle’s that helps us to intentionally place ourselves in the Lord’s presence. Then worship God the Father and God the Son, before engaging in Lectio Divina using John 14. Conclude with worship. If you would like to add a time for Confession, we suggest adding The General Confession (5 minutes).

WATCH NOW, will open YouTube. Click PLAY ALL to begin watching. (Videos will play one after another, but you may need to “skip ads” at the beginning of the worship videos.)

The Oasis Retreat. 60 minutes. Let Jackie and Luann lead you in an extended time with Jesus. Begin with worship, a time for confession, then have Luann introduce the practice of Journaling. Jackie will follow with a demonstration of Dialogue Journaling. Then spend two hours on your own having Lunch with Jesus. Download the Oasis Retreat Facilitator’s Guide and Schedule and handouts from the suggested list.

WATCH NOW, will open YouTube. Click PLAY ALL to begin watching. (Videos will play one after another, but you may need to “skip ads” after 4 sec. at the beginning of the worship videos unless you have YouTube premium.) You can tailor-make your retreat by creating your own playlist, choosing different worship videos (adding your favorites).

Confession. 35 minutes. Let Luann lead you an a time of confession. Begin with an introduction to confession, then worship with a focus on drawing close and receiving the love of God. Pray as she reads The General Confession from the Common Book of Prayer and Daniel 9. Take time to pray your own prayer of confession. Conclude this part of your retreat with 3 songs of worship.

WATCH NOW, will open YouTube. Click PLAY ALL to begin watching. (Videos will play one after another, but you may need to “skip ads” at the beginning of the worship videos.) You can tailor-make your retreat by creating your own playlist, adding in your favorites.

The Beauty and Wonder of Nature. 20 minutes. Marvel at the beauty and wonder of God's creation. The call to worship Jesus our Creator is “All Beauty Speaks of Thee,” sung acapella by Glad. This playlist will then take you into the tropical rainforest of Papua New Guinea to spend 6 minutes observing the beauty and wonder of different varieties of the birds-of- paradise birds. You might want to ponder the opening of the Gospel of John: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” as you spend 5 minutes viewing the wonders of outer space through the lens of the Hubble telescope, peering into the heavens where you can see light shining in the darkness. Conclude listening to Psalm 139 and worship the Savior who created our universe then came to rescue us that we might be with him forever.

WATCH NOW, will open YouTube. Click PLAY ALL to begin watching. (Videos will automatically play one after another. Just wait for a few seconds for the bird videos to end and the next one will start. You may need to “skip ads” after a few seconds at the beginning of the music videos if you don’t have YouTube Premium.)

Additional Resources

Check out BIOLA University’s webpage “A Guide for Home Retreat—Prayer and Reflection.” They offer helpful suggestions for how to prepare a space in your home to use for your retreat. They also catalog 20 different types of retreats including a fully silent retreat, a lament retreat, and a prayer retreat. BIOLA’s site also has helpful suggestions for how to debrief after your retreat so that you can learn from your time as you plan your next retreat.

Favorite Scripture Gallery