Discipleship – Answering God’s Call was the theme of the fifteenth annual weekend Men’s Retreat held at the Emmaus Retreat Centre in Torrecilla, Arima from September 28 to 30.

Hosted by the Movement for a Better World, approximately forty men joined ranks for a weekend of fellowship, self-examination and hard talk under the expert guidance of Fr Jason Gordon, who challenged us to forge a new paradigm of leadership.

Fr Jason led us through scripture passage John 1: 35–51 on our quest for a good example of leadership. Here, John the Baptist while standing with two of his disciples points them to Jesus saying, “Look, there is the Lamb of God” and they immediately leave him and follow Jesus.

We saw the need in this scenario to demonstrate leadership like John the Baptist, unselfish leadership that is interested in building God’s kingdom and not our own private fiefdoms.

We saw that our paradigm of leadership is not built on the model of Jesus Christ which is built on service, but rather on the pagan model of leadership.

 Some questions were therefore examined in group discussion to navigate more deeply into the heart of this topic, such as:

• What model of leadership do I exercise?
• Is it a model after the heart of Jesus or the pagans?
• Where did I learn my model of leadership?
• What is Jesus’ model of leadership?
• How can I move towards Jesus’ model?

We also looked at Luke 18: 1-8 with a fresh perspective and placed ourselves in the role of the unscrupulous or hard-hearted judge who feared neither God nor man, and saw the importunate widow as God persistently calling to us, but we are so reluctant to soften our hearts and heed his call.

However, as Fr Jason ministered to us, it was clear that we could not move forward in our relationship with God unless we first moved vertically, that is, down into our grief and pain and confront it and bring it before the Lord; which if left unattended, will later manifest itself as anger. Several other issues added to the richness of the weekend.

Special thanks must also be given to the Sisters and staff of Emmaus Centre who ensured that we were able to make this journey closer to God in a hospitable and prayerful environment, and whose tireless work continues to facilitate the spiritual nourishment of the Centre’s guests. Thanks to Fr Jason for challenging us to revisit our roles as leaders and for his good support and counsel over the weekend

The dates for next year’s weekend Men’s Retreat are already fixed for September 26 to 28.  Brothers, pencil those dates in your calendar and see you there!

For further information you may contact Simon Rostant 681-1636, Hess Alexander 792-6998 or Victor Bryan 665-4038.