2025 Nashville Retreat: Artwork as Churchwork

In April 2025, CPT hosted our very first Learning Cohort retreat.

As part of our new Thriving Congregations grant from the Lilly Endowment, we launched two One-Year Learning Cohorts. These cohorts give a broader range of congregational leaders and pastors the opportunity to engage in the theologically and relationally rich culture of the CPT. Each group meets virtually throughout the academic year, focusing on a specific topic, with an in-person retreat held in the spring.

Our first cohort, led by CPT fellow David McNutt, is titled Artwork as Churchwork: The Theological and Cultural Case for Ecclesial Arts. The group gathered in Nashville for two days of fellowship and conversation with Andrew Peterson, who served as Expert Consultant for the retreat. Andrew welcomed the group to Northwind Manor, a beautiful retreat space run by The Rabbit Room, a ministry he founded for creators and art enthusiasts. Fun fact: The Rabbit Room purchased the fireplace from J.R.R. Tolkien’s home and installed it at Northwind Manor!

After spending the year studying various theological sources on the topic of the arts within the life of the church, the retreat provided the cohort an opportunity to hear from a practitioner. Andrew shared his experience as a singer-songwriter and author. Key themes from the group’s time together included the importance of an artist’s connection to place, community, and creation, as well as the value of collaboration between theologians and artists in the church.