“A change of pace + A change of place = A change of perspective”
Mark Batterson
Welcome to the web site of the Center for Renewal (CFR) Retreat Ministry. The CFR is on 38 beautiful acres in Simsbury, Connecticut and is the home of Covenant Presbyterian Church, also known as The BARN. One of the ministries of The BARN is the Center for Renewal Retreat Ministry. Retreats are held at our 5,000 square foot Retreat House. 
There are paths, a brook, a prayer chapel, and benches around the property as well as a reflection hut for you to reconnect with your heavenly Father.
Oswald Chambers has said: “The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.” Are you finding that your activities are crowding out your time alone with God? Join the club. Here’s a remedy. Schedule one of the several types of retreats that are offered by the CFR Retreat Ministry and cultivate that private profound communion with your Father.
Over the past 20 years, God has been teaching us to listen to Him and to develop a dialogue with Him. It started in 1990 when our elders went on a retreat with the goal of learning to listen to Him. Since that time, God has been teaching us that “we cannot manufacture [dialogue with God]; all we can do is to prepare the way and the climate for it” (from Paul Tournier’s The Meaning of Persons). And that is exactly what we have been doing – creating a climate and preparing a way to encounter the living God through Jesus Christ here at the CFR. Out of that beginning we created a number of “Listening” Retreats that have flourished over the past 20 years with over 1,000 people from more than 40 churches coming to the CFR and learning to listen and begin the dialogue with their heavenly Father.
The following describes the kinds of “Listening” Retreats we offer:
Unguided Listening Retreats (“God Alone”) These are self-directed retreats for groups or individuals. Half-day (4-hour), full-day (8-hour) or overnight single or multiple-day Unguided Listening Retreats are offered. The times are approximate and flexible. For overnight retreats, four private rooms and two dorm-style rooms are available. Two rooms are air conditioned. Food options are: bring your own or self-serve from our stocked kitchen.
Guided Listening Retreats (“Before the Face of God”) These are directed retreats for groups (up to 25) or individuals. Group retreats are typically a full day (8 AM – 5 PM) and are held Monday – Saturday. Individual Guided Listening Retreats provide an immersion into God’s presence and are typically 3-4 days. On an individual Guided Listening Retreat, you will spend time alone as well as meeting several times a day with a spiritual director who will help you process what you are experiencing. Food is prepared and served by our volunteer staff.
We have learned that we need to “make time to take time”. Schedule one of our “Listening” retreats for you, you and your spouse, or a ministry team or small group of which you are part.
