Adie Johnson, who serves on the staff of a small church in Colorado as Pastor of Spiritual Formation, shares a few thoughts about the power of group solitude:

I have found that one of the most powerful tools God has used to sculpt me in my spiritual life has been solitude, extended times set aside to be just with God. It was nearly 15 years ago that an older woman at the church I attended invited me to join her and others going to a park to spend a half day in prayer. I remember thinking I was pretty sure I couldn't pray for that long, but still, something about it drew me. Perhaps it was the compelling, gentle spirit of the woman who invited me.

That clear, fall morning beside the Chesapeake Bay would change the direction of my journey with Jesus irrevocably. With very simple instructions, my friend sent us off with a Bible, a journal, and what felt like all the time in the world. Once I figured out that I didn't need to speak to God nonstop for the next three hours, I settled into a listening mode that was new and surprisingly comfortable. Unbeknownst to me, God began that day to answer a prayer I had uttered to him a few months earlier: "Lord, help me to hear and recognize your voice. I just want to know it's you."

In those three hours, God, in his lovingly tender way, began to teach me just that—how to listen to him. Like Elijah in 1 Kings 19, I discovered that God sounds much more like a soft whisper blowing through my heart than a raging wind tearing apart the mountains. It was an unimaginably rich experience for me, and it has only grown richer and deeper since then.

In the last few years, I have begun to do my own invitations to others to solitude. …

Group solitude may sound like an oxymoron, but like most new experiences in life, we humans prefer to try things with a friend. When I take a group on solitude, we carpool to a retreat center together, chatting and enjoying conversation all the way there. Once we get there, we split up to our various rooms alone and respect silence until we meet up together for lunch. After lunch we decide who wants to take a hike together or some other activity and who wants more time alone. No judgment is placed on either decision; we simply follow our hearts and wish each other well. Committing to dates and traveling together has been a great way to help each other make this spiritual discipline a priority.

Condensed from our sister publication Gifted for Leadership, a Christianity Today International blog © 2008 Christianity Today International.