There is a ripeness in this moment. Religious institutions are experiencing vast internal and external changes. There is an urgency in the call to respond to climate change, economic, and racial injustice. The yearning is deep for drawing upon aspects of tradition while finding new ways to foster communities of prayer and witness that respect and increase the well being of all and our planet.

The urgent realities that claim us did not just happen. For decades, we have been moving across a threshold time of change, giving rise to new vision and ways. And so it was that a little over 20 years ago on a small hillside in Arlington, an Episcopal community of nuns, the Sisters of St. Anne-Bethany, began to explore a friendship in ministry with four women. Not one of us could have envisioned what this ripe moment would ask or yield.

Through these twenty years, a unique ministry continues to emerge from this friendship. Spiritual direction, retreats, contemplative practice and contemplative worship, writing groups and art exhibits, and countless leadership groups on retreat, come and go from this Arlington hillside and shared ministry with the Sisters of St. Anne—Bethany. Today, over twenty gifted Colleagues, women and men, lay and ordained, ecumenical spiritual leaders, work collaboratively to extend a ministry of prayer, hospitality, and spiritual care for women and men and community groups. In addition to welcoming many to Bethany, we travel offsite to parishes, seminaries, community agencies, dioceses, and conferences.

We ourselves are not monastics. We come and go from this place, returning to individual homes, communities and everyday lives. Yet our proximity to the Sisters’ and their way of life continually opens us to God’s generosity, modeling honest faith, sincere hospitality, daily devotion, and gracious ways of attending to the Holy around us.

This fruitful and adventuresome time returns us to our reliance upon God and to companionship in this spiritual journey. The shifts of change can be stressful and confusing as well as hopeful and creative.  Bethany is a refuge where this affirming work can unfold not in isolation but with the support and wisdom of one another.

We care about the life of the soul and seek to be attentive to the needs and mystery of the present moment with our whole selves and the best of our imagination; and we trust in the grace and mercy of God to transform us and our world. As we celebrate 20 years and pray God’s blessing upon our future, we delight in welcoming you among us from whom we shall see and learn even more.

our numbers:

• We provide retreat leadership and hospitality with over 60 congregations and groups each year

• In all, we serve over 2,000 people a year

• Over 80 individuals, lay and ordained, cross our threshold each month for spiritual direction

• Approximately 20 ecumenical leaders from several faith traditions share in offering ministry at Bethany House of Prayer

• We rely on the generous support of friends who make our ministry accessible to all especially to those in professions that serve others.