Summons to Radical Discipleship: Come to the Water
In the spirit and legacy of World and World and the Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute, Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center will once again be hosting the annual gathering of radical disciples. In 2026 the theme is water….
Festival of Radical Discipleship 2026
Summons to Radical Discipleship: Come to the Water
“Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water” calls the prophet Isaiah.
“Water is life,” say the indigenous water protectors, and also, they remind us, water is gravely endangered.
“Out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water,” promises Jesus.
Registration and information here.
In these chaotic and wrenching times, those of us who long for a better world are maybe feeling a little parched. Perhaps you, too, are thirsty for living water. Maybe you suspect, as we do, that we can’t see “justice roll down like the waters” unless we ourselves become like artesian wells where living water springs up–no easy thing amidst so much that drains us dry.
We invite you, in these hard days, to step away for a long weekend of replenishment through bible study, workshops, art, song, worship, ritual, campfires, imagining of new worlds, and the flowering beauty of the Pocono mountains in the spring. It will be a time to splash in the waters of our baptism, remember past gospel experiments; discuss current calls to witness and work; and conspire about future collaborations.
This year, our theme will be water. We will seek to learn from the troubled waters of Exodus, the endangered waters of the contemporary world, the baptismal waters of the gospels, the seeping waters invoked by Bayo Akomolafe in his call for those who long for a better world to “become water,” the fluvial body of water that each of us is inside our skin, the streaming waters of a new earth in Revelation, and more.
In beloved community, we will prepare ourselves to go back to our own watersheds, get back in the trenches, so to speak–nourished, energized, connected, inspired, grounded – to live, fully human, in our time on the clock of the world.
Sliding scale options and scholarships available.
Continuing education certificates are available upon request.
