Have you heard about Fall Craft Week? This special Montreat conference welcomes over 100 people each September for a time focused on making art and enjoying the beauty of fall in the mountains. This year, as in years past, both novice makers and skilled artisans came together to create beautiful works of art. They quilted, carved, soldered, and sketched, in addition to many other forms of craft, all guided by skilled professionals during twice daily classes for their chosen medium. We are now in the process of preparing for next year’s event, and we would like to invite you to …
Montreat Receives Second Lilly Endowment Grant to Support Thriving Congregations
In early October, I ventured to Indianapolis, Indiana for a diverse gathering of nonprofit leaders representing organizations that shared at least two things in common: 1) a hopeful commitment to the vitality of the wider church, and 2) our institutions had all received grant support from Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its Thriving Congregations Initiative. I was already feeling buoyant as, a week before that gathering, I had received the exciting news that the Lilly Endowment has awarded the Montreat Conference Center a second grant of nearly $1 million to continue and expand our own Thriving Congregations initiative for another five years. Our first Lilly Endowment grant, awarded in 2019, established a partnership with The Black Mountain School of Theology & Community and launched our Thriving Congregations program. At its heart, the program envisions churches as dynamic “schools for the faithful,” where …
How to Enjoy the Montreat Wilderness During Youth Conference
This month, as part of our Youth and Young Adult Takeover, we are looking at ways youth can benefit from Montreat’s wilderness spaces. There are many things to enjoy about Montreat Conference Center’s campus when you attend a youth conference. Youth spend time singing in Anderson Auditorium, playing games on Moore Center Field, and eating ice cream in The Huck, all of which are sacred in their own right! But for many of our guests, the Montreat Wilderness is where they feel God most closely. For this reason, if you plan to attend Montreat Youth Conference next summer, we highly recommend …
Engaging Retreat Activities for Youth and Families
When planning retreats for families or youth, it is important to include a variety of ways for them to interact, both with each other and with the message presented during your event. While this may seem like a no-brainer, we cannot overstate the importance of varied programming as a way to ensure that participants are fully present and engaged. Everyone who attends your retreat will come with different interests, learning styles, and ways that they like to communicate. For that reason, it’s important to plan an event that takes these needs into account. So, what should you include in the …
2026 Montreat Youth Conference and Middle School Conference Themes
It’s here, the moment you’ve been waiting for… It’s finally time to announce the conference themes for Montreat Youth Conference and Middle School Conference! As our flagship events for youth, the yearly themes for these conferences are often highly anticipated. That makes us really excited to share them! But before we get started, a little background. Contrary to popular belief, Montreat Conference Center staff don’t pick the themes for Montreat Youth Conference or Middle School Conference. Instead, theme selection is driven exclusively by members of the Planning Teams for each conference — and it isn’t something they take lightly! After …
Youth Conferences Help Young People Define Their Faith
This month, Montreat Conference Center is highlighting upcoming events for youth and young adults and looking at how these events tie into other elements of our ministry. Surely, it’s no surprise that events like Montreat Youth Conference and Middle School Conference have a deep spiritual focus. However, today we wanted to outline a few of the ways that these conferences impact the spiritual lives of young people. Specifically, we find that youth are called to define their faith as they participate in reformed worship, hear from prominent church leaders, and engage in faith-based discussions with mentors and peers during these …
Adult Involvement at Youth and Young Adult Events
This month, Montreat Conference Center is taking time to highlight upcoming events for those between the ages of 11 and 32. This might cause you to wonder, “where do I fit into all of this?” While adults are not the primary audience for events like Montreat Youth Conference and Middle School Conference, they still play a vital role in their success. Each year, over one hundred adults volunteer as Small Group Leaders, another 16 serve on event Planning Teams, and dozens more attend conferences alongside youth, serving as guides and chaperones for those in attendance. Through these various avenues, we’ve …
Bear Hunting, Graybeard Trail, and Fall in Montreat
This summer in Montreat was a bustle of activity as usual. For the wilderness ranger staff, the aftermath of Helene meant one of the busiest summers in a long time as they focused on trail maintenance and recovery. Dozens of volunteers have also helped to rebuild the trails since the storm and, thanks to their combined efforts, we are happy to report that every trail is now open except for the Harry Bryan Trail. While we have accomplished much in the last year, work is still ongoing. Additional maintenance is needed in order to ensure that certain trails are both …
Hurricane Helene: One Year Later
When people ask me about the summer of 2025, I’ve found myself answering with a kind of quiet joy. “It was very normal. We had a very typical Montreat summer.” Innocuous, perhaps? A little bland? Okay, these statements may not sound like superlatives on first reading. Placed into the context of the past year, however, my heart lifts with every word. After Hurricane Helene forced us to cancel programming on our campus last fall, the ability to welcome friends, families, and congregations back this past summer for a season that felt normal and familiar was a sign of just how …
The Power of Youth Retreats
While many youth groups discover Montreat through our annual youth and young adults events, that isn’t the only way they can experience Montreat. Retreats are another vital part of church ministry which also offer youth the opportunity to form meaningful connections. For those who know Montreat primarily as a youth conference destination, it might be surprising to learn that we host hundreds of retreats each year. Some groups plan intergenerational retreats where youth participate alongside the broader church family, while others — including many Presbyteries — host retreats designed specifically for youth. This might lead you to ask “what should …
How Planning Teams Shape Montreat Youth Conference
Each summer, hundreds of youth travel to the mountains of Western North Carolina for Montreat Youth Conference, an event which welcomes nearly 4,000 high school youth annually. While in attendance, they enjoy a week of worship, music, recreation, and spiritual connection. However, many are unaware of those working behind the scenes to make the conference happen. They are the heart of the operation: the conference planning team. This group of youth and adults don’t just help the conference run smoothly; they create the experience together from the ground up. There are three planning teams responsible for organizing the conference each …
What Do We Mean When We Say “Sabbath?”
We frequently make use of the word “Sabbath” here at Montreat. But what do we mean when we talk about Sabbath? You might be familiar with the traditional use of the word, which refers to the seventh day of the week and is typically observed as a day of rest and worship for Jews and Christians. However, Sabbath can also refer to any period of intentional rest, originating from the Hebrew word shabbāth which literally means “rest.” At Montreat, we typically refer to Sabbath using this second definition, as we specifically encourage individuals to invest in their physical and emotional …
Finding Renewal in the Wake of Hurricane Helene
As we approach the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, we cannot help but be reminded of the storm’s devastating impact on our community. Like many of you, we have spent months in recovery mode — cleaning up, rebuilding, and offering support. We know from first hand experience that if you’ve been in recovery mode for the last 12 months, you are likely feeling tired and weary. And that’s understandable! When you are busy caring for others, it can be hard to care for yourself as well. That’s why we decided to offer an additional Discovering Renewal retreat this fall …