Vocational Study Retreats
Given the Wesleyan endorsement of retreats and conferences for a common purpose, we propose a series of retreats that will immerse our whole faculty in the language, concepts, and literature of vocation. The retreats serve a three-fold purpose: (1) helping Asbury College faculty and key educational staff to focus on their own callings as part of a Christian liberal arts college, (2) equipping them to lead students into a consideration of their callings, and (3) acquainting them with the emerging national discussion on vocation, in which the Endowment has played a significant role. In order for vocation to transform our environment profoundly and for the long term, Asbury College is committed to a “total coverage” model for the entire faculty and educational staff.
An added benefit created by the retreats will be enhancement of understanding vocation for faculty who serve on the Core Curriculum Review Committee, the standing Curriculum Committee, or sit in our general Faculty Assembly. If funded, the Transformations program will immediately propose to key committees that the theme of vocation be included with other great themes that run through the core (e.g., the significance of being human, a sacramental view of life, etc.).
We will conduct four annual retreats, and each retreat will cycle through one fourth of the teaching faculty and up to one fourth of key professional educational staff. We will devise an invitation process with the intent of populating the retreats with a good mix of ages, disciplines, and gender for an enriched experience. For each of the retreats, we will also invite one key member from each of our important constituencies—board, alumni, and partners with the college—in order to enrich the retreat experience. This will increase awareness of vocation for representatives of constituencies that will eventually influence the continuation of the program. Because these retreats will be very rigorous and will make heavy demands on the participants, we will provide Lilly Incentive Stipends. After reaching all current faculty with retreats, we will expose all future incoming faculty to vocational thinking during our New Faculty Seminar, which meets every Thursday during their first year.