UCC Heartland Conference and CHHSM Team Up for Enneagram Workshop

Each year, the UCC Heartland Conference hosts a day-long retreat with CHHSM that is open to the conference’s designated ministry partners, local church staff members, and CHHSM agency staff. Following the success of the 2025 workshop giving an overview of the Enneagram as a sacred tool for serving leadership, the conference asked for a follow-up session this year.

The resulting “Pilgrimage and Practices of the Enneagram” was held Sept. 3, 2026, at Camp Christian in Marysville, Ohio. The retreat was led by the Rev. Dr. Elyse Berry, CHHSM’s associate for advocacy and leadership development, and included a deeper dive into understanding the Enneagram journey.

Attendees “were again blessed by the extraordinary gifts of the Rev. Dr. Elyse Berry for our Nollau To You day retreat,” said the Rev. Dr. David Long-Higgins, conference minister. “Following last year’s introduction to the Enneagram, Elyse gave us a deeper understanding of the ‘three centers’—body, head, and heart—which manifest in others and in ourselves.”

The modern study of the Enneagram began in the 1960s and 1970s and grew through such religious groups as the Jesuit network as well as through secular narrative tradition. It is a personality framework that describes nine interconnected personality types, each driven by distinct core motivations, or instincts and coping strategies. 

The Enneagram is a model for self-awareness and spiritual transformation to wholeness by revealing how people think, feel, and behave on “autopilot,” as well as how they react under stress and when they feel secure. It can be integrated into any faith or spiritual path.

As Berry has said, the inner work and self-awareness tools are part of a practice of healing justice “to contend with our own suffering so that we do not add to the suffering of the world, to cultivate compassion, and to be able to act from a place of presence in the face of a reality that is often painful and frustrating.” 

After an opening overview of the Enneagram, the retreat spent the morning learning through discussions and activities about the instinct categories. The afternoon sessions were spent learning more about the pilgrimage and practices of each of the three centers.

Two of the participants were the Rev. Torie Front, pastor of St. John UCC in Reading, Ohio, and her spouse, Vince Front. “I was a bit of the odd man out in that I’m not in ministry, but rather, my wife is,” Vince Front said. “I found it most interesting when we broke up into small groups for discussion but, more importantly, that we were not always in the same small group, so as to get to hear insights from other attendees.”

The retreat was a great opportunity “to connect and learn more about ourselves and give us each a little more perspective on our interactions,” he added.

Front said he took advantage of a follow-up TEAMS platform call with Berry “to learn more about my specific place on the Enneagram spectrum, and I look forward to learning more from her feedback.”

Long-Higgins was introspective on the importance of the retreat during a time of social and worldwide upheaval. 

“In a season when misunderstanding seems to be at an all-time high, this day offered new insights to help us better understand ourselves and those with whom we live and work,” he said. The presentations “were amplified by an invitation to engage in practices that helped participants experience what each center offers.”

Berry’s “energy, wisdom, and good humor combined to offer not only deep learning but also delight in discovering new insights about our relationships. What a gift!”