Pastoral Posture // A time for ministry leaders to slow down, receive grace afresh, and rediscover the posture that only comes from knowing we are welcome before we are useful.
Join us this July for a short retreat led by Dan Steel, Principal and Ministry Program Director of Yarnton Manor.
Ministry has a way of exposing our fragility. The sense of falling short, the limp we carry from wounds along the way, the feeling of being far from the table — these are experiences many in ministry know but rarely name. This retreat invites us to sit with one of Scripture’s most quietly profound stories: Mephibosheth, brought from obscurity and brokenness to eat at the king’s table, not because of anything he had done, but because of a covenant kept.
Drawing on 2 Samuel 9 – and hearing it afresh through the echo of Jesus’ own three parables in Luke 15 – Dan will explore what God’s covenant kindness looks like for the broken and weary. The seeking shepherd, the searching woman, the running father: Jesus knew this story, and kept retelling it. This retreat is an invitation to receive it personally – and what it means for those of us leading others while carrying our own hidden wounds.
Our time will consist of 4 talks, with generous space to pray, respond and reset.
Various ticket options are available:
- Come just for Wednesday (lunch included)
- Come and go each day (lunches included)
- Come and go each day (all meals included)
- Full tickets (accommodation and all meals) for individuals (staying in an en-suite room in a shared block)
- Come with a friend – Full ticket (accommodation and all meals) for 2 individuals (sharing your own guest house)
- Full ticket (accommodation and all meals) for a couple (with your own guest house)
- Come with friends – Full ticket (accommodation and all meals) for 2 couples (sharing a guest house together)
If the option that you would like is not available then please do contact us at hello@yarntonmanor.com and we will see what we can do.
Early-bird discount prices available until 12th June.
Schedule:
TUESDAY 28th JULY
- 2 – 3.30pm – Arrive
- 3.30pm – Refreshments
- 4 – 5.30pm – Welcome & Session 1
- 5.30 pm – Break
- 6pm – Dinner
WEDNESDAY 29th JULY
- 9 – 9.15am – Morning Prayer
- 9.15 – 10am – Breakfast
- 10 – 11.30am – Session 2
- 11.30 – Refreshments
- 12 – 1pm – Solo reflection time
- 1 – 2pm – Lunch
- 2 – 3.30pm – Reflect & connect
- 3.30pm – Refreshments
- 4 – 5.30pm – Session 3
- 5.30pm – Break
- 6pm – Dinner
THURSDAY 30th
- 9 – 9.15am – Morning Prayer
- 9.15 – 10am – Breakfast
- 10 – 11.30am – Session 4
- 11.30am – Refreshments
- 12 – 1pm – Session 5
- 1 – 2pm – Lunch
- 2pm onwards – Depart
About the Speaker:
Dan Steel is Principal and Ministry Program Director at Yarnton Manor. A native Oxfordian, he has been a pastor and church planter in Oxford and Birmingham for over 20 years, and is the author of Wise Church Planting, a global research study drawing on voices from 27 countries to support struggling planters and ministry workers. He is passionate about sustainable, long-term ministry practices – helping those in ministry to flourish rather than merely endure. Dan is married to Zoe and is dad to Ellie, Barney, Josh and Abi.
