More Than a Retreat: Building a Network That Learns Together

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Sometimes a retreat is more than a chance to get away. When the Agape Asia Network gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on July 20-24, 2026, for its second bi-annual retreat, the gathering became something much more significant than just getting away for a few days. It was a time for rest and renewal, but it was also an opportunity for ministry leaders from across Asia, and their American ministry partners, to listen, learn, share ideas and strengthen relationships.

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The retreat and workshop, held at the Juniper Resort in Chiang Mai, brought together nearly 40 participants. The setting made it possible for everyone to stay together in small cabin-like houses, share meals, spend time together and have room for both rest and reflection.
 
Agape Asia has ministry operations in nine Asian countries; Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand. In those countries are more than 25 ministry operations under the umbrella of Agape Asia. Leaders from eight of the nine countries were represented at the retreat, with Cambodia being the only country unable to send a participant.
 
The decision to hold the retreat in Chiang Mai was intentional. The location made it relatively easy for ministry partners to travel back and forth to their home countries without the visa complications and significant paperwork that can make international travel difficult. The result was a gathering that brought together people who often work thousands of miles apart.
 
Ministry partners came from different countries. They spoke different languages. They serve in very different cultural and economic environments. But they share a common calling. And for four days, they had the opportunity to learn from one another.
 
For Agape Asia, the retreat represented something bigger than a four-day event. It offered a practical demonstration of what it means to be a network.

A Place to Rest and Prepare
Agape Asia Board President Steve Shaner opened the workshop with a message centered on the importance of “rest and readiness.” The idea was simple: people engaged in difficult ministry work need opportunities to stop, breathe, renew themselves and prepare for the work ahead.
 
That emphasis shaped the retreat. The schedule included formal training and ministry discussions, but there was also time to eat together, talk together, relax and enjoy one another's company. One day was devoted to an excursion that gave everyone an opportunity to play with elephants in Thailand. Those moments may seem unrelated to ministry strategy, but they were part of the retreat's purpose.
 
Agape Asia works with ministry leaders who often serve in difficult circumstances. Their united goal is to; care for abandoned and vulnerable children, make disciples and plant churches, and help each ministry to become self-sustaining. These objectives are met by leadership training, strategic planning and accountability. Some are dealing with poverty. Others minister in politically unstable environments. Some are leading ministries through significant transitions.
 
Collaboration in Action
One of Agape Asia's core values is collaboration, and the retreat gave participants an opportunity to experience that value rather than simply hear about it. Participants were placed in groups twice each day to talk, exchange ideas and debrief about what they were learning.
 
American ministry partners also participated, including representatives from Mission Resource Network, Hope and Equip, Flint Global and The Exponent Group. Their representatives helped conduct workshops and interact directly with the Asian ministry leaders. That interaction was valuable for practical reasons. Participants were able to meet people they might otherwise know only through email or online meetings.
 
The presence of multiple organizations demonstrated to Agape Asia's Asian partners that ministry organizations can work together without competing for control, recognition or money. They could simply collaborate. That example may have been as important as anything taught during the formal sessions.
 
Community Beyond Borders
Another of Agape Asia's core values is community. The retreat provided perhaps the clearest possible picture of what community means. Participants lived together. They ate together. They talked together. They worshiped and prayed together. And, yes, they played with elephants together. Those shared experiences helped create relationships that cannot easily be manufactured through a quarterly Zoom meeting or a PDF training document.
 
The retreat also brought together people who would not ordinarily have an opportunity to meet. A ministry leader from one country might have discovered that another leader thousands of miles away was dealing with exactly the same challenge.
 
Someone working in India might have found an idea that could be adapted in Nepal. A leader from Myanmar might have discovered a new approach being used in Thailand. Those connections are at the heart of Agape Asia's growing network philosophy. The organization is not simply trying to tell its partners what to do. It is trying to help them discover what they can learn from one another.
 
Learning From the Front Lines
Each of the three primary ministry days focused on one of the areas central to Agape Asia's ministry model: discipleship, childcare and sustainability.
 
Sessions were led by Dale Taylor, Executive Director of Agape Asia Network; Kris Bowen, Director of Southeast Asia Operations and Social Work; and Caleb Meeks, Director of Innovation and Africa/Asia Program Manager for Flint Global.
 
Each session included panel discussions and breakout groups designed to hear directly from the ministry leaders themselves. Participants could talk about what was working. They could talk about what was not working. They could ask questions. They could compare experiences. And they could begin thinking about how an idea being used successfully in one country might be adapted to their own ministry context.
 
The breakout groups were also organized around primary languages, including English, Chinese, Thai, Burmese and languages from India. That structure helped ensure that participants were not merely passive recipients of information. They were contributors.
 
When the Student Becomes the Teacher
Perhaps the most important lesson from the retreat was the power of peer-to-peer learning.
Agape Asia leaders have communicated many of the same ideas to their ministry partners repeatedly.
 
There is a difference between hearing an idea from an organization and seeing that idea being lived out by another ministry leader who understands your circumstances. As one participant explained, ministry leaders have heard Agape Asia talk about children's clubs, sustainability and other ministry strategies before, but sometimes an idea does not fully connect until someone hears a peer say:
 
“This is what we're doing in India.”
Or:
“This is how we're approaching it in Myanmar.”
 
Suddenly the idea becomes more than a recommendation. It becomes a possibility.
The retreat was already producing evidence of that. Some participants were asking for additional training from representatives of Mission Resource Network and Flint Global.
 
Others returned home talking about ideas they had heard from fellow ministry leaders.
One participant wanted to begin a children's club after hearing about the work being done by another ministry. Another wanted to explore how to start a small business to create local sustainability. That is precisely the kind of response Agape Asia hopes the network will generate.
 
Agape Asia can provide the training, but its partners can provide examples. Sometimes an idea becomes most powerful when it comes from someone who is already living it.
 
Moving Beyond the Traditional Mission Model
The retreat also demonstrated how Agape Asia's understanding of its own role is changing.
 
The organization is increasingly moving away from the idea that its primary responsibility is to send money to Asian ministry partners. Money remains important, but it is no longer the entire relationship. Agape Asia wants to bring people together, build relationships, encourage collaboration and create opportunities for partners to learn from one another.
 
As Dale Taylor, Executive Director of Agape Asia, explained:
“We have learned that lasting ministry isn't simply about bringing resources into a community. It is about walking alongside local leaders, helping equip them, and giving them the tools they need to continue the work long after we are gone.”
 
The goal is not simply to have a collection of ministries that receive support from the United States. The goal is to create a network in which those ministries are connected to one another.
 
As one participant described it, the organization wants partners to be able to say:
“I know this person in Nepal who does that. Let me put you in touch with them.”
 
That is a very different picture of international ministry. It is not simply one organization sending resources outward. It is a network in which knowledge, experience, encouragement, relationships and ideas can move in multiple directions.
 
Caring for the Whole Ministry Leader
The retreat also addressed an essential but sometimes overlooked aspect of ministry: the emotional and spiritual well-being of the people who lead it.
 
Each morning, participants were given time for personal reflection and small-group conversation, creating a safe environment to consider not only how their ministries were doing, but how they themselves were doing. They were encouraged to ask difficult but important questions: How am I doing spiritually? How am I doing emotionally? What is weighing on my heart? What am I anxious about?
 
For many leaders, talking about strategy comes naturally. They can discuss how to start a children's club, develop a sustainable business or strengthen the ministry's effectiveness. But leading a ministry through significant change can carry a very different kind of weight.
 
When practices that have guided a ministry for 20 years must be reconsidered, leaders may struggle with anxiety, uncertainty or even the concern that changing direction somehow dishonors the work and sacrifice of previous generations.
 
Kris Bowen, Director of Southeast Asia & Social Work, emphasized the importance of caring for the people who are doing the ministry:
 
“We can't ask ministry leaders to continually pour themselves out for others without giving them opportunities to be cared for, too. Caring for the whole person—including their emotional, spiritual and relational well-being—is essential to sustaining healthy ministry.”
 
The retreat helped Agape Asia recognize that truly equipping ministry leaders means caring for the whole person—not simply providing better strategies and tools. Supporting leaders spiritually and emotionally is an important part of helping them navigate change, remain healthy in their calling and continue serving the people and communities God has placed before them.
 
A Network That Is Just Beginning
The retreat ended with plans, prayers, hugs and thanksgiving.
 
Participants returned to their home countries carrying new ideas, renewed relationships and a deeper understanding of the ministries represented throughout the network. But perhaps the most important outcome cannot be measured by attendance numbers or workshop evaluations.
 
It is the realization that Agape Asia is becoming more than an organization that supports ministries. It is becoming a community of ministries that support one another. That distinction matters.
 
A traditional approach to international ministry can easily become a one-way relationship: resources flow from one organization to another, and instructions flow in the same direction.
 
The Agape Asia Network is seeking something different. It wants relationships to flow in every direction. It wants ministry leaders in Asia to learn from one another. It wants American ministry organizations to contribute their expertise without taking control. It wants Agape Asia itself to remain humble enough to learn from the people it supports. And it wants the network to become stronger than any one organization. The retreat in Chiang Mai offered a glimpse of what that could look like.
 
This was more than a retreat. It is the beginning of a network that believes ministry becomes stronger when people stop working alone and begin working together. And as plans begin for the third Agape Asia bi-annual retreat in 2028, the hope is that the network will continue to grow, not simply in size, but in relationships, collaboration, shared wisdom and ministry impact.
 
The ultimate goal is not for Agape Asia to do more ministry by itself. It is to help equip hundreds of ministries that can, together, reach tens of thousands of children and communities throughout Asia. The Chiang Mai retreat was one important step toward that vision.
 
Rest. Readiness. Relationships. Collaboration. Learning. Innovation. And, above all, a network of people committed to discovering what God can do when they learn to work together.
 
Agape Asia Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Christian ministry founded in 1997, with roots in the Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement. Working alongside local Christian leaders, Agape Asia serves children, equips ministry leaders and strengthens communities in nine Asian countries  through child care, disciple making, church planting, and financial sustainability. Learn more at www.agapeasia.org.