History Page
History of Walk to Emmaus in England
Walk to Emmaus was brought to the UK by a steering group of individuals within British Methodism who had experienced it overseas and wanted to bring the programme here.
Although it has been set up under the sponsorship and auspices of The Methodist Church, it is an ecumenical venture and there are many within the Community who are not Methodists. That is to be encouraged because of the benfits we can each offer from our own traditions and experiences
The steering commitee had the vision of launching and co-ordinating the work in these Islands, including setting up groups of a more-local nature. There has been discussion as the community has grown as to how best to give effect to this, bearing in mind the needs to ensure that local groups do not act so autonomously that the work elsewhere loses its impetusdue to lack of resources during these early years, when we are necessarily 'playing it by ear'.
In order to run here, we have a licence from The Upper Room in America, where the Walk was developed from the existing Fourth Day programmes, and from whence we obtain our materials, including the pilgrims' crosses and books and the operating manuals (which is an authorised adaptation to suit our own culture). The supervising committee in any area is known as a Board, and it is the Board which is responsible for appointing the teams on the men's Walks, as well as organising the administration and things like this website. The Communities now run the Women's Walks
We held our first Walk in October 1995
Walk 1 October 1995
Walk 2 9-12 November 1995
Walk 3 18-21 April 1996
Walk 4 October 1996
Walk 5 7-11 November 1996
Walk 6 20-23 Feb 1997
Walk 7 2-5 May 1997
Walk 8 6-9 November 1997
Walk 9 27-20 November 1997
Walk 10 1-4 May 1998
Walk 12 November 1998
Walk 11 Summer of 1999
Walk 13 16-19 October 1999
Walk 14 November 1999
Walk 15
Walk 16 February 2002
Walk 17 March 2002
Walk 18 February 2003
Walk 19 March 2003
Walk 20 12-15 February 2004
Walk 21 11-14 March 2004
Walk 22 10-13 February 2005
Walk 23 10-13 March 2005
Walk 24 9-12 February 2006
Walk 25 23-26 March 2006
Walk 26 12-15 July 2007
Walk 27 15-18 March 2007
Walk 28 1-4 May 2009
Walk 29 6-9 May 2010