What Is an Emmaus Community?
The Walk to Emmaus gave me a whole new set of Christian friends who live all
across two states.
—Layperson from New Mexico
An Emmaus community consists of all the persons in a locality who have attended
The Walk to Emmaus. In addition to many small groups, Emmaus communities usually
have a monthly gathering on a Friday or Saturday night to celebrate God's grace and to
keep alive the enthusiasm for living everyday—the Fourth Day—as a walk with the
risen Christ. A volunteer board of directors, whose members are elected annually by
the Emmaus community, coordinates Emmaus activities.
When an Emmaus community has grown sufficiently in numbers, its leaders can
ask The Upper Room for help in offering Walks to Emmaus on a regular basis. Emmaus
communities sign a letter of agreement with The Upper Room and covenant to operate
within the guidelines of the program.
Each local Emmaus community relies on local leadership and inevitably reflects the
strengths, weaknesses, religious fervor, and theological biases of those involved. Each
generation of participants becomes the potential leaders for the ongoing program. The
Upper Room holds leadership-training workshops and visits Emmaus communities upon
request to guide and to help develop leadership for the program.