The Transforming Center is advertising this year’s pastors retreat as is Zondervan Publishing (http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/NPC/Retreat) which hosts both the retreat and the annual National Pastor’s Convention. This year’s retreat is titled Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Retreat, and the featured speaker is Ruth Haley Barton, co-founder and president of the Transforming Center. The retreat will take place in early April at a retreat center in Pennsylvania. There will be a second retreat later in the fall.
These national pastors events began with the contemplative/emerging organization Youth Specialties, but in 2006 Zondervan bought Youth Specialties and placed the pastors conventions and retreats directly under its planning and supervision.
To understand why Christian pastors who desire to maintain biblical integrity should not attend this retreat, it is needful to understand the spirituality of Ruth Haley Barton.
Barton is the former associate director of spiritual formation at Willow Creek Community Church, and along with John Ortberg, created the curriculum for their Spiritual Formation program. She eventually left Willow Creek to start the Transforming Center, which trains thousands of pastors and leaders in contemplative spirituality (i.e., spiritual formation).
Barton was trained at the Shalem Institute (http://www.shalem.org/extension_programs/shalem_society/soc_resources/crumley_07.html/view?searchterm=divine%20center), and this is a key factor in understanding Barton’s contemplative proclivities. Shalem is an interfaith organization devoted to the support of contemplative spirituality and interspirituality among all religious traditions. The founder of Shalem, Tilden Edwards, backs this support up when he says that the “mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality”( from his book,Spiritual Friend, p. 18).
Barton has carried on the contemplative message to Willow Creek which has been one of the most influential avenues that contemplative has entered evangelical Christianity. After leaving Willow Creek, Barton’s mission for the contemplative has continued with her Transforming Center. In her own words, she explains this journey toward the mystical:
A few years ago, I began to recognize an inner chaos in my soul . . . No matter how much I prayed, read the Bible, and listened to good teaching, I could not calm the internal roar created by questions with no answers.
I sought out a spiritual director, someone well versed in the ways of the soul–eventually this wise woman said to me, What you need is stillness and silence so that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear…. I decided to accept this invitation to move beyond my addiction to words. (from “Beyond Words: Experience God’s presence in silence and solitude” (Link removed by NavPress)
Barton’s “move beyond” her “addiction to words” led her to say:
Ask for a simple prayer to express your willingness to meet God in the silence … a simple statement … such as “Here I am.” … Help yourself return to your original intent by repeating the prayer that you have chosen.” –from Discipleship Journal Vol. 113 1999
We hope and pray pastors who are desiring to stay true to the biblical faith will steer clear of Zondervan’s pastors retreat.
Note: For a detailed account of the history of Youth Specialties and Zondervan, and their part in the emerging church, read chapter two of Faith Undone.
