Mission and Ministry provides opportunities for reflection, community building, and spiritual development through on and off-campus retreats, spiritual direction, and special programming.

Each fall semester, first-year and transfer students are invited to spend a weekend on Cape Cod participating in Take48 , a retreat taking 48 hours away from campus to reflect on three questions relating to the transition to college, being a new member of the Emmanuel College community, and building new friendships.

Mission and Ministry supports Emmanuel’s LGBTQIA+ community by co-sponsoring Reaching OUT, an off-campus weekend retreat helping students develop community rooted in love for self, as well as awareness of God’s deep love for each of us.

An outdoor retreat encouraging students to get off campus and into nature, the Wilderness Walk retreat is held in the fall semester. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are invited to spend a day hiking in the mountains of New Hampshire followed by an evening of reflection.

We also offer an on-campus retreat in the spring semester called Making Space, an opportunity to meet one-on-one with a spiritual director for four days in a row, scheduled around the participant’s availability, in order to explore their spiritual journey.

Mission and Ministry also offers other retreat opportunities for campus groups throughout the year including retreats for Emmanuel College athletic teams, student organizations, faculty and staff groups.

Spiritual Direction is another offering from Mission and Ministry. This is an opportunity for students to explore their spirituality and develop a closer relationship with God. Spiritual direction is a time-honored term for a conversation between two persons, in which one person consults another, more spiritually experienced person called a spiritual director, about the ways in which God may be touching her or his life. Spiritual direction is open to all students, faculty, and staff of any faith tradition.