Board University presents Well-Being Respite, a unique online opportunity for members that supports wholeness.
Out of concern for the health and safety of our participants and presenters, we will not have an in-person 2021 Well-Being Retreat.
— Well-Being Respite attendee
Well-Being Respite is a unique online opportunity to step away from your daily routine and come to the well for spiritual renewal, mental stimulation, thoughtful conversation, and meaningful engagement with colleagues in life and ministry as you contemplate God's movement in our individual and collective experiences.
Available to all Benefits Plan members*, Well-Being Respite is a virtual space to pause, learn, reframe, and connect. Each of these four monthly offerings focuses on a different dimension of wholeness — financial, spiritual, vocational, and health — and how the current landscape shapes our understanding and application of it.
Each respite is comprised of the following:
The event concludes with a charge and blessing as you return to the rhythm of your day.
*Includes all active and retired plan members and their spouses, including surviving spouses.
Even in the church, most people find it difficult to talk about death. This respite is intended to create space for participants to reflect on the final chapter of life. Our conversation will focus on how faith informs
We’ll begin our time together by considering two opposing views of death that are presented in the Bible: we must fight against death as the enemy, and we must accept death as part of what it means to be mortal. Embracing both biblical claims can help guide us when making end-of-life decisions. The conversation will continue with an exploration of how recovering the biblical practice of lament can deepen our understanding of grief and guide us in responding to those who are suffering after the death of a loved one.
Rev. Nancy J. Duff, PhD, is the Stephen Colwell Associate Professor of Christian Ethics Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary. She retired in December 2020 after almost 30 years of teaching Christian ethics and theology at the seminary. During those years, she often taught a course on the ethics of resisting and accepting death. She has served on the ethics committee of a local hospital for 25 years, and, in 2018, she published the book Making Faithful Decisions at the End of Life (Westminster John Knox). Many of the ideas in her presentation will be drawn from that book.
Registration is now open for the August 18 Well-Being Respite. When you register, you'll find additional information about the event, including a detailed schedule.
Scheduled topics and primary presenters for each respite are as follows. Registration for each respite will open a few weeks prior to the event. Check back for your opportunity to register for these unique online opportunities that support wholeness.
| Date | Registration | Primary
presenter | Wholeness dimension |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 19 | Registration closed | Dr. Jessica Young Brown | Emotional |
| August 18 | REGISTER NOW | Rev. Nancy J. Duff, PhD | Spiritual |
| September 15 | Opening in August | TBA | Financial |
| November 17 | Opening in October | TBA | Spiritual |
These events are offered at no cost to Benefits Plan members, including all active and retired plan members and their spouses, including surviving spouses.
Email us with any questions.