About "Walk to Emmaus"

The Walk to Emmaus is a spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders. The Walk to Emmaus begins with a 72-hour short course in Christianity, comprised of fifteen talks by lay and clergy volunteers on the themes of God's grace, disciplines of Christian discipleship and what it means to be a church.

A Walk typically begins on a Thursday evening and ends on a Sunday evening. Men and women attend separate weekends. Husbands and wives are strongly encouraged to attend the same Walk. The Walk to Emmaus is administered through the Upper Room ministry unit of the United Methodist Church. However, the Walk experience is open to participants of other denominations.

The Walk to Emmaus had its beginnings in the Roman Catholic Cursillo de Christiandad or short course in Christianity which originated in Spain around 1949. The weekend retreat design was adapted by the Upper Room in the late 1970's and became known as the Walk to Emmaus based on the story found in Luke 24:13-35.

In 1984, the Upper Room developed a youth oriented version of the Emmaus experience called Chrysalis. Emmaus and Chrysalis are communities where growing Christians of all denominations come together in common affirmation of the essentials of the Christian faith.

WHAT IS AN EMMAUS COMMUNITY?
An Emmaus community is made up of individuals in a local area who have attended the Walk. They meet in small groups or as a larger body for fellowship, Communion and encouragement. They also assist in conducting Emmaus Walks by agreement with the Upper Room.

WHAT IS A GATHERING?
A Gathering is made up of individuals in a local area who have attended the Walk and is a subset of a larger Emmaus community. They meet as a small group for fellowship, singing, Communion, prayer and encouragement. They also participate in supporting the Emmaus Walks held by the whole Emmaus community in many different ways, including: the sponsorship of pilgrims, serving on a team and prayer.
For additional information about our community's gatherings, see the community’s web pages.

WHY SEPARATE WALKS FOR MEN AND WOMEN?
The Emmaus experience is designed for individuals to focus on their personal walk with Christ. It is a weekend where distractions are removed to create an environment that allows God to speak more clearly and directly to a person. Things like newspapers, clocks, phones, pagers, televisions, radio and romantic attachments are all left behind so that a person can devote their full attention to the Walk experience.

The Walk is not a ministry for couples and its purpose is to develop strong Christian leaders. Couples attend a set of weekends together because they can then share their experiences with one another. Most often the Walk experience will strengthen a couples relationship with each other and with Christ.