Walk to Emmaus
Teaming is generally held on Saturday mornings for several weeks prior to a Walk. The total time spent in training is roughly 25 hours and is spread across multiple days. The training sessions include general training on the Walk to Emmaus, talk previews, small group prayer time, music, and other training as needed. You should strive to be at all the team meetings. Teaming locations are normally in a local Church in the Fredericksburg area.
There is a $250 fee to be on a team that covers the cost of room and board at Camp Rappahannock. Please see the Team Covenant below for more information.
Please fill out an on-line teaming application to be considered for an Emmaus or Face to Face team.
Face to Face Encounters
Teaming for Face to Face Encounters, in the Fredericksburg Emmaus Community, are several weeks before the Encounter dates. In our community, we put on an Encounter in 4 days spread over two weeks. An example Encounter would be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two weeks.
Team meetings follow the same dates and are 2 or 3 weeks before the Encounter. Team meetings have general training on the Encounter, talk & meditation previews, small group prayer time, music, and other training as needed.
There is a $50 fee to be on a Face to Face team that covers the cost of the program. Please see the Team Covenant below for more information.
Team Covenant
The Walk to Emmaus and Face to Face (Emmaus/FTF) are a structured, disciplined ecumenical experiences in spiritual renewal, operative both in the life of the individual and of the church. Because of its life-transforming potential, Emmaus and Face to Face calls for excellence in team preparation and performance. This excellence is manifest in the spirit of humility and servanthood that characterizes the ministry of Emmaus/FTF and the same spirit modeled in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. In order to sustain the spirit of Emmaus/FTF, team members must, first of all, be committed to personal spiritual growth. Secondly, they are called to remain faithful to the spirit and structure of the Walk to Emmaus and a Face to Face Encounter that has been entrusted to them by obedience to the authority and direction under which the Walk to Emmaus and Face to Face is conducted.
In order to adequately fulfill your role as a member of an Emmaus/FTF team, you will find it necessary to have a thorough understanding of the goals of the Emmaus weekend/Face to Face Encounter and a clear perception of its rhythm and dynamic. You will be called upon to sustain the character and spirit of Emmaus, to embrace and absorb your role with a keen awareness of and commitment to Christian servanthood. Sustaining the spirit requires your surrender to the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit. You, along with the other members of the team, will be an instrument through which God can work mighty acts in the lives of Pilgrims. As a team, it is important that you encourage one another as you seek to be formed spiritually into instruments of God. Only that mutual encouragement and personal surrender to Christ can ensure that it will indeed be the Holy Spirit, not the team, who reaches hearts during the Walk to Emmaus or a Face to Face Encounter.
The Weekend Lay Director and Weekend Spiritual Director for Emmaus weekends and the Encounter Lay Director and Encounter Spiritual Director for Face to Face Encounters are called to lead a group of people from an Emmaus community through a process known as “team formation.” This is primarily a spiritual formation experience. The team, which you may become a part won’t just happen! It will be carefully and prayerfully selected, chosen jointly by the Team Selection Committee, and the Weekend Lay and Spiritual Director for the weekend or the Encounter Lay Director and Encounter Spiritual Director for a Face to Face Encounter. Because of this broad selection process, each Walk/Encounter belongs to the entire Emmaus community, and you are called to honor your responsibility to that community.
Emmaus weekends and Face to Face Encounters are under the authority and direction of the Board of Directors of the Fredericksburg Emmaus community, which, in turn, is under the authority of the Upper Room. This line of authority provides continuity from the International Emmaus Movement, through the local Board of Directors, to the Emmaus weekend/FTF Encounter you will be helping to conduct. This consistency and continuity is essential to the Walk to Emmaus as an instrument of spiritual renewal. This selection process also provides a mechanism to assure good stewardship of the Emmaus community to assure that there is effective and responsible utilization of time, talent, and energies of individual community members.
Team formation takes place through discussion of the dynamics of the 72-hour weekend or Face to Face Encounter including the rhythm, spirit, progression of thought, and team discipline involved in the Walk to Emmaus or Face to Face Encounter. This process is necessary in preparing for each event no matter how many times team members may have been involved in conducting previous events, these reminders are essential.
All team members are parts of one, message the grace of God and the love given to us through Jesus Christ. In all things during the team formation, let Jesus Christ and others come first. When the team experiences spiritual unity – being in Christ and having Christ in you – you become one of those who walked to Emmaus, the Pilgrim becomes the other, and Christ walks with you both – and your eyes will be opened.