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About the Valley Walk to Emmaus
The Valley Walk to Emmaus, started holding walks in 2001 after many people in the community had attended their week-end walks in other communities – mostly Heart of Georgia at Camp Dooley, near Vienna, Georgia. In March of 2008, we will hold our 14th set of walks. Over 600 people from our area have attended Valley walks and we currently have over 1300 people on our roster from over 145 different churches in the West Georgia/East Alabama region.
A Board of Directors governs our Community and oversees all the planning and operations necessary to conduct the Walks. This Board commits to abide by the guidelines created by The Upper Room.
Under the Board there are Clusters, which are local communities. We currently have two clusters, one in Columbus and one in Phenix City. In the future, we hope that there will be others.
The monthly gatherings put on by the clusters are some of the most special times spent in Emmaus activity. The Columbus group typically meets on the fourth Friday of the month and the Phenix City group meets on the second Tuesday of each month. At a typical gathering, we enjoy a covered dish meal where we have time to fellowship with people who genuinely love the Lord. We share in praise and worship music and then have a speaker who gives a talk about how their life has changed since their Emmaus experience. We end the evening with Holy Communion.
Our walks are held at Pine Eden Christian Retreat Center, a wonderful facility located in Hamilton, Georgia. Pine Eden was developed by some of the same people who helped form the Valley Walk to Emmaus and it was designed specifically with many of the Emmaus activities in mind. It is a wonderful facility that is available to Christian organizations for different events.
There are many opportunities for you to be nurtured and grow after you experience your walk – in fact, the week-end is intended to be the beginning of your making a conscious effort to deepen your relationship with God.
Reunion Groups build on what begins during the walk. This is a small group that meets on a regular basis for the purpose of reviewing each other’s spiritual practices, holding each other accountable in their commitment and sharing each other’s awareness of Christ’s presence in their life.
Learning to be a servant is one of the main values of the Walk to Emmaus. There are many opportunities to serve within the Emmaus community, but it is always important to remember that the primary area of ministry is to be one’s local church. To attend an Emmaus walk, each person must have a sponsor who has already attended Emmaus. Also required is the ability to commit to the full 72 hour experience and have a genuine desire to deepen your spiritual life. Men and women attend separate walks that are typically held a week apart
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