When Deb and Roger Andruss joined one of the largest mission organizations in the world a decade ago, transitioning from church ministry to providing pastoral care on a global level, they noticed something amiss: countless missionaries and church staff they met were abandoning their calling due to feelings of burnout and disillusionment. When the organization delved deeper, they saw a common theme. In many cases, those who were leaving their ministry had struggled to find a balance between the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. The business of their ministry had led them to neglect their relationship with Jesus — there’d been too much “doing,” and too little “being.”
With that realization, Deb and Roger began facilitating retreats to help people understand how to strike a healthier balance. Both had a heart for preventive health care (they’d worked in the industry before serving in ministry), and their goal was to help others achieve and maintain a better spiritual, physical, emotional and social well being.
It was around that time that they started hearing about the Axiom, a global community encouraging practices and disciplines to encourage greater intimacy with Christ. In corresponding with Jeff Pratt, the organization’s founder, it became clear that God was leading them to merge their ministries.
“In the six years since, we’ve seen Axiom grow at the local and global levels,” said Roger. “Several churches, like Hoboken Grace, have adapted Axiom’s rhythms into their growth programs.”
Those rhythms are at the heart of Axiom’s retreats, where participants are introduced to these spiritual disciplines and can work on putting them into practice. In doing so, they’re able to create more time and space for greater intimacy and a deeper understanding of God’s purpose for their life.
“We’ve discovered over the years of facilitating retreats and pilgrimages, and spending time in silence and solitude in prayer, that we have a God who aches for our full presence,” said Roger. “Being fully present to Him, to one another, and to the needs of the world around us is the distinct spirituality and heartbeat of Axiom.”
And those practices are more important than ever, says Roger, as our lives are increasingly being lived at high velocity and with greater amounts of clutter.
“Our hearts have forgotten how to ‘be still and know that He is God.’” he said. “Inside ourselves we’re running all the time, ambushed by the tyranny of the urgent. We are seldom awakened to the fact that every moment of every day can be lived in the presence of God, alive and aware of His love.”
Interested in attending an Axiom retreat? You’re invited to join us for this opportunity next summer:
Axiom: Homecoming: July 10-12, 2020
With storytelling, movie illustrations, biblical teaching and personal prayer time, this time away will further your understanding of His dreams and purposes for your life.
For more information, contact anthony@hobokengrace.com
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