Souly Business helps men disconnect from life and find greater connection with God

Allen Macartney
Special to Spur Ottawa

The fast pace of life can make it hard to develop greater connection with God. So, the first weekend in May, 50 men took a weekend away to help them change pace from solely business to soul-y business. The group gathered at Camp IAWAH for a retreat with a discipleship ministry called Souly Business Canada.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind retreat,” says Stephen Rolston from Souly Business. “We don’t have pastors or professional speakers giving the talks, but regular guys who speak well from their experience—a restaurant owner, a senior government worker, a high tech guy.”

Any man between the ages of 18 and 88 can come. Participants include public servants, business owners, retirees, students, pastors, and executives.

“We encourage men to come to the weekend and disengage from the things that wear them down,” says Rolston. “We want them to connect with God. That’s why the symbol for Souly Business is a plug being inserted into a socket.”

“It rocked my world when I heard it.”

The weekend is built around seven foundational talks, ranging from our identity in Christ to deep contemplative prayer. After each talk, men break into groups of eight to discuss how the topic applies to their lives.

Rolston says usually two men per group are not following Jesus. By the end of the weekend, he says, at least one of those two has given his life to Jesus and the other is really connecting with the other men and the messages.

One of the weekend’s topics is contemplative prayer (learning how to listen to God). Rolston says learning about contemplative prayer has been life-changing for him and many others he knows.

“It rocked my world when I heard it [God speaking], and it is so Biblical and normal. Of seven of us who walked out into the woods, alone, to practise contemplative prayer, many of us came back crying, weeping because God had spoken to us so clearly.”

“The weekend helped to slow down my times with God.”

Mark Newcombe has attended Souly Business several times. His experience of learning contemplative prayer was slightly different, but equally profound. He says he now finds prayer much more fulfilling.

“For me the weekend helped to slow down my times with God,” he says. “It helped me more fully experience the richness of a relationship with Him. Also, it allowed God to more easily whisper into my heart and mind so I can hear Him. It’s opened an entirely new dimension in my life.”

Others find that attending the retreat leads to deep, multi-layered healing.

One participant told Rolston, “When I went to my first Souly Business retreat God healed me of some really big issues. When I attended another weekend, God dug deeper and dealt with some big emotional issues I’d been grappling with.”

Souly Business’s popularity is evident, as it generally sells out a month or more beforehand. Taking a weekend away is a great way to hollow out time in life’s noise and clutter to connect with God at a very deep level.

“Joy. That word describes it best,” Newcombe says. “Attending this weekend has brought more joy into my life.”