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Reflections with
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Alton L. Collins Retreat Center
Here’s the next installment in our series that highlights each of our six Oregon-Idaho camp and retreat ministry sites. We hope that each article reveals something new or intriguing for you as you learn more about these sacred spaces, and get inspired to attend an event, volunteer at a site, or support a particular ministry with your prayers and gifts. This week our series focuses on the Alton L. Collins Retreat Center.
The land upon which the retreat center sits was purchased in 1941 by the Portland-area Methodist churches so that they would have a site for day use close to the metro area. A piece of the land was developed into Leewood Methodist Camp, which operated until the early 1980’s. In the late 1970’s the Board of Education (the precursor to the Board of Camp and Retreat Ministries) came up with a plan to build a retreat center across the creek from Leewood. There was some opposition to this plan initially, as some felt we didn’t need a retreat center; we were engaged with camping. Thanks to those who had vision we were able to build a portion of the dream. We would still like to complete that original vision so that we have 75 beds available at the retreat center instead of the current 45.
The original construction included the lodge, the sleeping wing (prefabricated and moved on to the site in pieces), the director’s residence, and the pump house and water tower. The Chapel was built about eight years later. Around 2000 we purchased the 12 acres across the highway, which has a house, a barn, and now the solar array that is part of our ministry of creation justice. The Reverend Dan Benson has been the director of the Collins Retreat Center since May 15, 2017, and I’ve asked him to share some thoughts:
Nestled in among the mossy trees of the Pacific Northwest temperate rainforest, Alton L. Collins Retreat Center offers amazing hospitality in a beautiful setting. Groups of all types meet here to be fed in body and soul, to walk the trails, and gather in person.
As the retreat center is located only 45 minutes from the Portland airport, we welcome guests from around the world and from the greater Northwest area. We are close enough to the city to be accessible for day-use groups and far enough away that you can be in the midst of the forest while you are here.
Alton L. Collins Retreat Center engages in a ministry of hospitality, welcoming groups to our site and demonstrating God’s love through our actions. The staff shapes the space and the experience to meet the physical and emotional needs of our guests. We strive to offer hospitality as Henri Nouwen puts it in Reaching Out: “Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.”
One of the primary ways we show hospitality is through our meals. We craft each meal on-site using high-quality ingredients and love, attending to most dietary needs at no additional cost while still maintaining our high standards. Quite simply, our food is one of the main reasons guests return year after year.
This August 21-24, we will again offer our popular four-day retreat, Time to Sow. Designed primarily for preachers, the event walks through the Gospel lessons for an entire lectionary year and sends everyone home with a binder full of their own work and a preaching plan complete with series and themes for the upcoming year. This program can be a remarkable gift to everyone who contributes to worship: to preachers as they design worship, and to congregations who will want to come back to continue hearing what God is saying to the people. Register for Time to Sow.
We welcome volunteers to help maintain this sacred space and assist in providing gracious hospitality. Volunteers are invited to enjoy the meals and stay on-site as they support this ministry. Volunteer with us.
Our staff would love to host your planning or spiritual retreat, your crafting guild or choir, your family reunion or you by yourself. There are still vacancies available for this year, and we are booking events for next year. Please contact the Alton L. Collins Retreat Center office at 503-637-6411 or office@collinsretreatcenter.org to discuss availability and options.
Come, be fed in body and soul, experience God’s love, and engage with creation.
On the road to wonder, love, and justice,
Rev. Todd Bartlett
Executive Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries
*PHOTO: The old Camp Leewood sign across Deep Creek from the Collins Retreat Center (Todd Bartlett).
Don't worry, be happy?
Actually, there's something even better!
You've probably heard Bobby McFerrin's hit song from the late 1980's, Don't worry, be happy. A recent CNN article by Monica Parker makes a convincing case that we're missing the boat when we focus on our search for happiness. She talks about another element that makes us more resilient, more creative, less stressed, and healthier. It's something we include in our value statement for camp and retreat ministry. Find out more in Parker's article here.
Blessings Report
- Flowers in bloom
- Volunteers getting camps ready for the summer season
- Meeting new people
Please send your blessings to share in future issues of the e-news.
Wonder-full People are Generous People
Our own Cesie Delve Scheuermann also highlighted Monica Parker's CNN article (see our "Don't Worry, Be Happy?" article above) in her weekly blog, Inspiring Generosity. Cesie even offers some further resources for exploring what Parker writes about. Cesie firmly believes that people who experience wonder in their lives are more generous: "Wonder leads me to want to be sure that places that inspire me to feel better, be better, do better are funded to keep their work going."
Have you experienced wonder through camp and retreat ministries? We're pretty confident we know the answer to that! We hope that you are committed to making sure we are funded to keep our work of wonder, love, and justice alive and well. The green button below will help you be a wonder-full donor!
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*PHOTO: The wonder of Skunk Cabbage in bloom at the Collins Retreat Center (Todd Bartlett).
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