Daily rhythms of prayer and shared work
A Christian hospitality house with
A mission of Iona Community Anglican Church and the Diocese of Cascadia, with a heart to serve the wider body of Christ in the Pacific Northwest. Nestled in the northern hills of Clark County, Washington.
For Christians, it’s hard to live a life of contemplative prayer in the midst of a busy, broken world. Sometimes we need to get away from the noise and the chaos and be still for a while.
There are lots of Christian retreat centers, and lots of secular nature retreats. But where are the Christian nature retreats?
For suburban parents of young families, it’s too easy to get caught up in the rat race. Many kids—and parents!—don’t have much opportunity to connect with nature. They’re starving for connection.
But where are they going to go to find a family-friendly place apart from the busyness of life that will help them reconnect? (And check off some items on the todo list!)
For young urban professionals, they don’t have time for religion. Many would never consider entering a church, much less a Christian retreat center. But they do look for unique experiences, and they're often interested in eating responsibly-raised food!
For all of us, when we are confronted with the wonder and beauty of nature, our hearts open up, even just a little bit. And this gives God more room to work.
But where will they go?
Columba House is a 27 acre Christian hospitality house nestled in the northern hills of Clark County, WA. We offer a place apart from the busyness of modern life: sacred time and space set aside to draw closer to Christ and to enjoy and learn about the glories of His creation.
Unlike many Christian retreat centers, we will be open to secular guests looking for a quiet retreat experience through common venues like AirBnb and Hipcamp, opening up an opportunity for ministry to a difficult-to-reach demographic.
While we will operate the hospitality house as a self-sustaining business, we will always reserve a portion of occupancy for charitable purposes.
The first commandment…
… and a second is like it…
as stewards of God's creation…
Benjamin brings 15 years of management expertise, with a wide range of experience in sales and public speaking from his career in the elder care industry.
Bonnie received her PhD in Molecular Physiology in 2009 and has been teaching ever since and tutoring for even longer than that. She brings a flair for creativity and experiential learning to every educational setting.
David is a certified Permaculture Design Consultant, and brings more than 15 years of system analysis & design experience to the table from his career in software engineering.
A former public high school teacher, homeschooling consultant, and worship leader, Susan carries on a multigenerational tradition of classic Midwestern hospitality.
Fr. Mike has been in ministry for over a decade and will be our liaison with the Diocese of Cascadia, not to mention our pastor and spiritual authority.
Veteran church planters from the South American mission field, Cal & Linda Swanson ran Fairhaven Ministries, a retreat center for pastors, missionaries, and Christian ministry workers in Tennessee, for 7 years. Together they bring their experience and mentorship to strengthen the team.
We are actively searching for a financial advisor to help us as we assemble the financing for the initial land purchase.
We are actively searching for a business advisor to help us as we assemble and implement our business plan.
We are actively searching for a maintenance advisor to help us as we plan for day-to-day operations of this facility.
We're confident that, with your help, we'll be able to make a solid offer and land a good deal. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity in our county.
The property itself is practically turn-key, but we'll still have some renovations required to make the main facilities guest-ready, and infrastructure to lay down for future capacity.
Once the snow melts and the permits are settled, we'll begin opening up the facilities to guests. Perhaps you'll be one of them?
We know you are the kind of person who is seeking God’s heart, participating in His redemptive work in the world.
You may be looking for new opportunities to bear His light. You care about reaching those who need Jesus, discipling those who are walking with Him, and caring for His good creation.
It can be difficult to find opportunities where these three collide: bearing witness to a lost world, discipling believers, and practicing stewardship of God’s world.
We believe that God, in Christ, is reconciling all things to himself (Colossians 1:15-20), and that he invites us to participate in his ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). As we seek to be his ministers of reconciliation through Columba House, we invite our retreat guests to join us in:
We also invite day visitors to
When you visit Columba House, you will see glimpses of the monastic life made for families and individuals. There will be opportunities to create, grow, explore, work and rest. There will be spaces for quiet and spaces for conversation and laughter as we seek to encourage one another and build each other up.
We welcome you to join us as partners in this ministry that Christ may be magnified!
If you have time and are handy, we'd love to have your help when the time comes!
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Here's our pitch deck. If you're an accredited investor interested in partnering with us, please get in touch. Thank you!
Just fill out the contact form below!
We are looking at a price of around $2 million to purchase the property and prepare it for use. We are looking for accredited investors interested in either real estate syndication or hard money loans.
Why not both? We believe that, once off the ground, this can become a financially viable, self-sustaining business that can operate independently for many years to come. And with that financial engine, we aim to do as much good as we can, in keeping with the character of our mission. To this end, we are looking into incorporating the retreat center as a Washington Social Purpose Corporation.
Our main business will be as a hospitality house. But we also plan to develop the property as a platform for other regenerative agriculture businesses, such as:
You can see some of our early financial projections near the end of the pitch deck.
Just send them to this website, https://columbahouse.org.
As we continue on in this adventure, we would love to have your prayer support. Subscribe to receive our updates. Thank you!
Get involved!
See our pitch deck
