What is a Marriage Retreat?

A marriage retreat is a place… a getaway opportunity for you and your spouse to learn skills to actually know how to be married. A destination to relax. It can be a weekend event with national speakers at a large hotel somewhere like the beach, or a fixed location that runs a business as a marriage retreat.

A marriage retreat is also an opportunity to invest in your marriage relationship. Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are vital investments in your daily life that certainly make a difference, but they are only part of the picture. How does your spouse feel, how are they doing emotionally? How is their heart? We are created as spirit, soul, and body. Spiritual and emotional nurturing are every bit as important and necessary as meeting physical needs. A Christian marriage retreat will offer support in this area. Purposeful, dedicated time away from your normal daily routine is the best way to address this side of life and a marriage retreat is a perfect place to get help with this. 

A marriage retreat is a chance to learn. It’s been said that no instructions come with babies or spouses. But wait, there is hope! A marriage retreat can be continuing education for the job of marriage. If you’ve been married over six months, you probably have realized this person does not think or do life exactly like you do. But you don’t have to figure it out by yourself; you can learn from the experiences of others that have traveled this road before you. 

You might ask “A place, an opportunity, a chance …. ?  But what happens when I go to one?”  At Longview Retreat the first thing that happens is you relax when you realize, “I can do this.  These other people here seem just like me and if they can do this I can do this.  We are not the only couple with surprises in our marriage”.  No one has to say anything they don’t want to say or talk about nor will there be a “group hug”.  And if there is something you really do want to talk with someone one-on-one about, we can arrange that too.  One of our goals here, as a small venue, is to help guests relax.

A second thing that happens at Longview is that you will be pampered!  The food is good and the volunteer service is exemplary!  That’s not going to fix your marriage, but it will help you relax and be more inclined to listen and learn from other guests and staff during the weekend.  Most wives enjoy the seated dinner in an almost 200-year-old dining room and all seem to enjoy the private couple’s picnic on Saturday.

Many couples have expressed how comforting it is to realize other couples are dealing with many of the same issues they are.  Usually, there is nothing wrong with you or your spouse; you simply both have expectations of how marriage should be; how your spouse should act or do things and you quickly realize this may not be the case.  What happened “I thought I knew this person?”  At the retreat, you begin to understand each other and how to handle differences.

Often, dating couples are trying very hard to put their best foot forward and certain realities are not known until you are married.  Some of these realities are actually differences created by God.  Men and women are as different emotionally as they are physically.  We process life differently and we may come to different conclusions given the same information.  All this can be resolved by understanding a biblical view of marriage.

At Longview Retreat we approach couples’ weekends with the help of videos produced by Family Life or Dr. Emmerson Eggerichs.  We watch a little video and then Jane and I talk with you about it.  There is time for questions or group discussion if desired.

Another thing that may happen is a wonderful getaway stay in our Genesis House.  This is a comfortable one-bedroom (king) guest house on our property that is available both for our weekend events or at other times that suit your schedule.  Couples come and design how they spend their time.  They may want to have time with us or not, and we understand that.  There are many trails to walk on here on the farm to enjoy the peace and quiet to help you reconnect your relationship.

A marriage retreat is a maintenance type of activity.  It is not like a cast for a broken bone–it’s more like going to the gym to take care of your overall health.  Simply put, what happens at a marriage retreat is that you slow down, disconnect from your busy life for about 24 hours, and focus on why you got together in the first place.  You will learn Christian skills to keep you together successfully for a lifetime. 

If you are interested in visiting Longview Christian Retreat, you can learn more about us by visiting our Marriage Retreat Page here. Or you can go ahead and plan a visit using our contact form.