Reflections on Wellness Retreats
by Beverly G. Buston, Ph.D.
Recently I attended a Wellness Retreat at the Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin. As a Trustee of MTM, I wanted to experience one of the retreats as a participant-observer. I felt this would be important for me should I serve as a facilitator in a future retreat.
I have not experienced forced termination as a pastor or as a professional person, but I could identify with having been in situations that ended where I had, or felt I had no control. I was deeply touched as people shared their stories. A strong bonding and community formed more quickly than I anticipated as people shared their pain and vulnerabilities. It did not matter that there were a variety of denominations represented or the specifics of each situation. The feelings of the pastors and spouses and the ways they were treated by people in their congregation were like a written script. Each one had come to the retreat feeling alone and isolated. By the time the week was over, the support of the group toward each person was developed and dynamic. Personally and professionally, I was impressed with the design and the integrity of the retreat.
In June, I served as clinician on the retreat at Judson College in Marion, Alabama. It was a much smaller group but the dynamics were the same. I felt honored to use my gifts and ministry to serve such wounded people.
As a psychologist and consultant, I have worked with a number of congregations and clergy who were in conflict. This often leads to termination of the relationship between the congregation and the pastor. I have grieved (and complained to the powers that be) about the clergy and their families having no resources to help them work through their painful experiences. They often fall through the cracks. All of a sudden, the invitation to gather at the table as the Body of Christ is null and void.
MTM fills such a need for those who have been wounded within the church. It provides a place to come and begin the healing process, to reconnect to being a child of God, rather than an orphan that the church has dropped on the street. I am blessed by being able to share in this part of the journey of those who are wounded.