The idea of a retreat for ministers and other Christian workers was first given official approval at the General Conference sessions held at North Newton, Kansas in 1945. The first retreat of this kind was held at Spirit Lake, Iowa, in the summer of 1946. Designed to promote spiritual fellowship and understanding, to serve as a workshop to discuss pertinent problems, and to provide opportunity for relaxation and recreation, the policy was to hold such retreats annually except when some other conflicting gathering made this inadvisable. While the responsibility for planning the retreat was at first in the hands of the Board of Education, since the constitutional reorganization in 1950 this responsibility rested with the Committee on the Ministry functioning under the Board of Missions.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 699. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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