What is Emmaus?

The Walk to Emmaus, and its youth equivalent, Chrysalis, are ministries of the Upper Room ministry of the United Methodist Church. Both the Emmaus "Walk" and the Chrysalis "Flight" and "Journey" are three-day-weekend retreats designed to build up the spiritual body of believers who make up the local church by developing Christian leaders for adults and youth.

Structure of the Weekend Retreats

The structure of the retreat is quite simple, and yet quite profound:

• Three days in a Retreat Center investing 72 hours to focus exclusively on one's relationship with Christ
• Fifteen talks covering the essence of the faith with five talks presented by clergy and ten presented by lay people.
• The opportunity to learn about God's grace from the speakers, to experience it in daily services of Holy Communion, and to respond in table fellowship following each of the talks.

On an Emmaus or Chrysalis weekend, people pray, learn, enjoy, consider, let go, grow, sing, fellowship and eat with a dynamic group of fellow believers united together for the sole purpose of spiritual growth.

There are no secrets in an Emmaus or Chrysalis weekend. There are a few surprises that will make the weekend more memorable while communicating the Gospel message. But the content of the weekend, what you'll be doing, where you'll be and what you'll be learning are quite public.

Building Christian Leaders

Emmaus and Chrysalis are primarily focused toward developing Christian leaders among the lay members of the church. What does it mean to "develop Christian leaders"? A Christian leader is simply anyone who influences others to get closer to Christ. A committee chair may be a Christian leader, and so might a Sunday school teacher or a member of the congregation to whom others look for support and advice. Many members of the clergy have attended Emmaus weekend retreats as well.