HISTORY
The Walk to Emmaus® is an adaptation of the Roman Catholic Cursillo (pronounced cur-SEE-o) Movement, which originated in Spain in 1949. Cursillo de Cristianidad means “little course in Christianity.”
The original Cursillo leaders designed the program to empower persons to transform their living and working environments into Christian environments. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Episcopalians and Lutherans, along with several nondenominational groups, such as Tres Dias, began to offer Cursillo.
In 1978, The Upper Room of the General Board of Discipleship adapted the program for a primarily Protestant audience and began to offer it under the name The Upper Room Cursillo. In 1981, The Upper Room made further adaptations and changed the name of the program to The Upper Room Walk to Emmaus.
In 1984, The Upper Room developed a youth expression of Emmaus called Chrysalis.
Excerpted with permission from What Is Emmaus? by Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 1995 by The Upper Room.
STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION
The Walk to Emmaus is grounded theologically and institutionally in The Upper Room ministry.
Walk to Emmaus is ecumenical or representing the whole church of Jesus Christ of all true Christians. The program invites and involves the participation of Christians of many denominations. Emmaus is Jesus’s church not only because members of many denominations participate, but because Emmaus seeks to foster Christian unity and to reinforce the whole Christian community. This is one of the great strengths and joys of the Emmaus movement.
The fact that Emmaus is ecumenical does not mean it is theologically indifferent. On the contrary, The Walk to Emmaus is designed to communicate with confidence and depth the essentials of the Christian life, while accentuating those features that Christians have traditionally held in common.
The Upper Room Walk to Emmaus is a tightly designed event that is conducted with discipline according to a universally standard manual. Emmaus is offered only with the permission and under the guidelines of The Upper Room. This ensures a proven format and a common experience that should be trustworthy from weekend to weekend wherever Emmaus is being offered.
Each community is administered locally through its local Board of Directors. The program is administered globally through the International Emmaus office in Nashville, Tennessee, USA
