The Emmaus Walk is a an ecumenical program that calls forth and renews Christian discipleship. The Walk is a three-day experience which takes a New Testament look at Christianity as a lifestyle. It is a highly structured weekend designed to strengthen and renew the faith of Christian people, and through them, their families, congregations, and the world in which they live. Emmaus is a combined effort of clergy and laity toward the renewal of the church.

The "Walk To Emmaus" is a 72 hour experience. The weekend begins on Thursday evening and ends Sunday evening. At Emmaus you will spend three busy but very enjoyable days, usually at a retreat centre. You will live and study together in singing, prayer, worship, and discussion. Discussions centre around fifteen short talks given by laity and clergy. These talks present the theme of God's grace, and how that grace comes alive in the Christian community and expresses itself in the world.

You will also discover how grace is real in your life, and how you can live in the life of grace, bringing grace to others. You will have the opportunity to participate in the daily celebration of Holy Communion, and to begin to understand more fully the presence of Christ in His body of believers.

You will also experience God's grace personally through the prayers and acts of service of a living support community.

The Walk to Emmaus grew out of a movement called Cursillo, which began in the Catholic Church in Spain in the 1940's. It was formed as an instrument of spiritual renewal. Cursillo (or Cursillo de Christianadad to give it the full title) means "a short course in Christianity". The original three-day retreats were only for clergy, and were conducted in the midst of a three-day fast! Once the blessings of this movement began to be fully appreciated, it was opened to both lay people and clergy. The movement eventually spread to the USA where it was received with enthusiasm by both Catholic and Protestant Churches.

Initially, in the USA Protestant pilgrims all went through weekends which were organised and run by the Catholic Church. The Upper Room, an agency of the United Methodist Church in the USA became involved in sponsoring people to the Cursillo weekends, and for approximately 10 years worked in cooperation with the Cursillo movement in Peoria, Illinois, and then in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1981, by mutual agreement between the National Secretariat of the Roman Catholic Cursillo Movement and the Upper Room, a separate, ecumenical, sister movement was established for Protestant churchfolk, to be known as The Walk to Emmaus.

Elsewhere in the USA, another ecumenical Protestant expression of the movement called Tres Dias (Three Days) had also begun. As these movements spread across the USA, a special form of the weekend was developed for the ministry in prisons. The prison movement was called Kairos (pronounced Kighross). Another form of the three-day retreat was developed for Year 11 and 12 high school students, called Chrysalis.

In August 1984, the Rev. Robert Wood, at the invitation of The Upper Room (Australia), brought a team of 32 Americans (most of whom paid their own fares and used their annual leave) to run the first Emmaus Walks in Australia.

Team members came from all over the USA from both Emmaus Walk and Cursillo movements and included two Australians who had made their initial walks in the US. The first Emmaus Walks for men and women were held in Otford, NSW. Twenty men and thirty-three women attended.

During 1985, the Uniting Church Board of Mission (NSW) became the official sponsor of the AUSTRALIAN WALK TO EMMAUS movement. In 1991 responsibility was assumed by the National Mission and Evangelism Committee of the Commission for Mission of the Uniting Church in Australia. The commitment to making the Emmaus movement an ecumenical tool of spiritual renewal for church leadership in Australia has constantly been emphasised. The Walk to Emmaus has grown rapidly from its beginnings in Sydney. In New South Wales communities have also been formed on the Mid North Coast, Far North Coast, Western Sydney, Northern Inland, Newcastle/Central Coast, Riverina and South Sydney/Illawarra.

Emmaus has also spread interstate with communities in Queensland, ACT, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia & soon the Northern Territory. Several Chrysalis communities have also been established - in Sydney, Far North Coast, Mid North Coast, Northern Inland, Queensland, Adelaide and Canberra. There is also a form of Emmaus for disabled people called Alarga which was developed in Queensland and is also held in New South Wales. The first Kairos weekend in Australia was held in Parramatta Prison in 1995.

The Alarga program was developed in Australia to meet the needs of pilgrims with Physical Disabilities, unable to cope with the pressure of the Walk to Emmaus timetable, the unsuitability of some sites, and to participate together with ablebodied persons in the Walk to Emmaus weekend experience.

By modification of the existing Walk to Emmaus Weekend, a program was developed to ensure that the needs of the pilgrims with physical disabilities were adequately met, and included greater emphasis on:

• suitable site selection
• team selection
• sponsoring
• pilgrim assessment
• team training
• and a firm weekend timetable

The carers were invited to attend if they wished, this meant the inclusion of both male and female pilgrims and team members, and became a part of the proposed Alarga program.

The program is approved by the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus, and because the Emmaus program was modified, and with the inclusion of both male & female, the name was changed to "Alarga" meaning 'Reaching out'.

The first Alarga weekend was held in Queensland Australia in 1991.

In August 1998 the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus confirmed that - "Alarga International be an extension of the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus program - that Alarga is unified with Emmaus, distinguished from it in name and format solely for the purpose of ministry to people with special needs".

An International Co-ordinator is appointed for the Alarga Element of the Upper Room Walk to Emmaus International.