{"id":125,"date":"2025-05-21T16:41:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T20:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/?page_id=125"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:12:09","slug":"vision-and-mission","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/?page_id=125","title":{"rendered":"Vision and Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back to About<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VISION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sustainable and faithful lifelong Christian service by pastors, missionaries, young adults, and their families.

We desire to see healthy Christian leaders and young adults, along with their families, who are refreshed, equipped, and strengthened to serve as they are called, to the glory of God and for the good of His kingdom purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Need<\/summary>\n

In January of 2021, Barna conducted research with Protestant senior pastors. They found that just about a third of them were considering quitting full-time ministry. In March of 2022, that number had not improved. Instead, it had risen to a staggering 42%. Pastors cite \u201cthe immense stress of the job,\u201d \u201cfeeling lonely and isolated,\u201d and the \u201ccurrent political divisions\u201d as reasons for burning out. These statistics are in line with other similar research which has been done in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Mission<\/summary>\n

Serve, Encourage, Equip, and Inspire Current and Rising Christian Leaders, Their Families,<\/strong>
and their Peers for the Good of the Church and to the Glory of God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At House Beautiful, we serve pastors, missionaries, and their families. We are available for active engagement with guests, but also provide all the space needed for rest and retreat.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

What is a Retreat and Study Center?<\/summary>\n

Retreat \u2013 A forced or strategic withdrawal from action (or battle); the act of withdrawing as into safety or seclusion; a place of refuge; a period of retirement from normal routine for spiritual exercises<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study \u2013 the act of applying oneself to the acquisition of knowledge or wisdom through reading, investigation, reflection, and\/or practice; to think deeply, reflect, or consider; a room in a house or other building set apart for reading, writing or the like (or in the case of study center, a whole property dedicated to this end).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combining these things, we are seeking to be a place for prayer, discipleship, learning, contemplation, restoration, discernment, equipping, preparation, reflection, and drawing near to God, to provide individuals, ministry teams, and families who come to stay with us the means by which they can be ready for the work of faithful life and ministry in the vocations the Lord has called them to.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Why the name “House Beautiful”?<\/summary>\n

In John Bunyan\u2019s classic work \u201cPilgrim\u2019s Progress\u201d, Christian arrives at the Palace Beautiful after ascending the Hill Difficulty and showing faith to keep to the narrow way between the chained lions on either side of the path that could not reach him if he kept to the center. He spends time with Discretion, Piety, Prudence, and Charity while there, and through this he is encouraged, equipped, and strengthened for the journey ahead. Christian\u2019s time at the Palace Beautiful provided several means that helped him prepare for the rest of his journey to the Celestial City (Heaven) and the many challenges and trials he would face that lay ahead in his path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember:<\/strong> First, he was encouraged to remember; to look back on where he had been, see how the Lord had called him, to recall the joys and sorrows of his journey thus far. He gave pause to reflect on the grace of the Lord that had brought him safe thus far, how He relieved him of his burden by His death on the cross, and how He had given him His Word and the Spirit (Interpreter) to guide him. Christian was also encouraged to give thought to the pain he felt for those he had to leave behind and his affliction from trials he encountered on the way. By looking back, he was strengthened in his trust that the Lord, who did not spare His only Son to save him, would also resolve the sorrows that remained and heal the scars left by trials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejoice:<\/strong> <\/strong>Second, he was given the opportunity to rejoice in and be strengthened by the good gifts God has given for our comfort and enjoyment: a wonderful supper of delicious food and drink paired with joyful fellowship that directed praise and glory to the Giver of it all. These foretastes of the joy to come at the wedding supper of the Lamb are meant to create longing for the good that they reflect and to turn our hearts to praise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflect:<\/strong> <\/strong>Third, he and the others in the house reflected upon how the Lord worked through His servants throughout history to accomplish his purposes in a sort of Hebrews 11 reflection. This assured Christian of the Lord\u2019s provision of the armor of God for him to stand and accomplish His purposes for him as well, and he was fitted with this armor before his departure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ready Oneself:<\/strong> <\/strong>Finally, Christian was helped to look ahead, to set his eyes on the end goal of dwelling with God, beholding His glory, enjoying the Lord and His goodness forever, and thus strengthened to press on in the upward call that is his in Christ Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recite Truth:<\/strong> <\/strong>Many similar comforts were given to Christian\u2019s wife, Christiana and their children in the second book of Pilgrim\u2019s Progress upon their stay at Palace Beautiful. One addition is the catechism of the children, with Prudence asking the children to recite the things they know about what they believe and then building upon their knowledge of the Lord by further teaching them. By knowing and remembering what they believe they are: 1. better equipped to stand against lies and trials, 2. they can discern the right path that the Lord has willed for them and the manner in which they are to walk it, and 3. they can rightly know God as He has revealed Himself in His Word so they can love and worship Him properly and to a greater degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These things describe well our desires for all those who come to stay with us. <\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Back to About<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to About VISION Sustainable and faithful lifelong Christian service by pastors, missionaries, young adults, and their families. We desire to see healthy Christian leaders and young adults, along with their families, who are refreshed, equipped, and strengthened to serve as they are called, to the glory of God and for the good of His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":22,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-125","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/125\/revisions\/266"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housebeautifulretreats.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}