Group Work & Retreats

Rites of Passage

For millenia, healthy communities used rites of passage to help folk move accross thresholds that mark a human life. After much of this has been lost, we are in the midst of a wonderful recovery. I'm available to consult on the creation of rites customized for your particular context.

What would serve you and your community?

Wilderness Fasts & Vision Fasts

There is a good reason Jesus was always going up on a mountain to pray. This way of being in the wild, wakens the body, opens the soul, calms and clears the mind, and invites spirit. A wilderness fast is a practice one might do multiple times per year, while the vision fast work I offer is a particular kind of wilderness fast that seeks clarity around a major life turning point.

Men's Retreats and Men's Ministries

Working with men's groups and inviting them deeper into an authentic life to the full, never ceases being a joy.

Cancer Support Groups

One's posture can change everything. There is so much we are not in control of...but the essential parts we do have a say in. Learning to hallow our diminishments rather than oppose them, is key to finding health in the midst of illness.

Contemplative and Wilderness Practices

Major encounters with God in the Jewish and Christian scriptures rarely happened in places of worship...but rather on mountains, in caves, rivers, lakes, deserts, under trees. Curating experiences for folk to meet God out in creation, to do healing or contemplative work, is near the top of my list of delightful things to do.

Group Discernment

There are several approaches to discernment, and which one makes sense depends in part on who is in the room, what is being discerned, and how much time you have to dedicate to the process. Having a facilitator from the outside, allows leaders to be IN the process, rather than having to HOLD the process.

What Ned led us through was the most intense and beautiful and healing church retreat I've ever participated in or led. I am so filled with deep deep gratitude. All I want to do is twirl and sing the sound of music!

- Rev. Chris Pritchett, PCUSA Pastor and Henri Nouwen Society Board Member

Examples of Past Retreats

Fire on the Mountain

An encounter on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah, Moses, Jesus, and Peter. This weekend retreat invites men into the classic archetypal journeys these four have on mountains. Perfect for men's groups in faith communities, looking to go deeper.

Elders' Rites of Passage

A 9 month long course, situated around a 5 day ceremony. EROP has served men from 8 countries, most US states, and can be adapted to fit any context. The long term goal is that all spiritual communities will have their own Elders' Rites.

Falling Upward

Based in part on themes from Richard Rohr's remarkable book, this retreat uses ritual, story, council, time in nature, and teaching to guide folk accross the challenging shift from the first half of life into the second half of life. It gives a basis for why both are essential and ideally coexist within a spiritual community.

Wilderness Fasts and Grief Work

I've led fasts from single day events to week long excurssions, ranging in age from kids to elders, working with themes of death and grief all the way to finding ones place in the world. This experience is life-changing, and need not be a one-and-done. My favorite spiritual practice. Here is an article about a retreat I co-guided

Fathers-Sons Trips

I've led weekend encounters for 45 fathers and sons as a way to build the container for eventual initiation of boys into adolescence, and to help recover the role of the "uncle."

The Work that Reconnects

Though I'm not an official facilitator, I've used much of Joanna Macey's work sprinkled throughout many offerings, and have co-led a conference for 350 based on her work, as well as a leadership retreat for 60. Macey's offerings are remarkable, and offer a flexible framework.

The King

A weekend retreat working with the archetype of the king. This retreat puts men in contact with the four developmental life stages of the king, from the unawakened prince all the way to the Elder King.

Leadership Retreats, Conferences, and Trainings

Ranging in size from a dozen up to 400, I've planned and helped lead a number retreats, conferences and trainings for leaders and for the common person as well. I'm not a formally trained leadership consultant, but I've stood in the fire myself in many leadership bodies, and my experience and approach has set a posture conducive to organizational transformation. Peter Block and Joanna Macey are two folks I've leaned on in this work.

And more...

I've also designed and put on retreats on Shadow Work, Henri Nouwen's work The Life of the Beloved, and more. I currently serve as a Weaver for Richard's Men's Rites of Passage, a 5 day instensive that Richard charged Illuman to steward, and have played many roles in the MROP over the years at numerous locations. One of my favorite offerings I've ever had the pleasure to do was speaking about Vincent van Gogh's spirituality, in a show Common Ground created called "A Stroke of Genius, a Brush with Faith."