Resources for reflection

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Workshop

Invite, Welcome, Connect
Last week I attended a digital conference of several hundred folks around the country. It was hosted by a group organized around 3 verbs that healthy churches demonstrate:

  1. Invite
  2. Welcome
  3. Connect

We might see these verbs as the actions that Jesus himself did as he gathered disciples. When he met someone who was open to God’s work, he said, “Come and see.” The gospel reflect that they dropped what they were doing and followed him.

As Jesus traveled, ate, and slept with his followers, he welcomed them into his movement. He listened to them and to their needs, and he met those needs, usually in surprising ways, always in deep and life-giving ways. Jesus met them and connected with them in the actual lives they lived.

The digital conference gathered 100’s of examples of how churches have invited, welcomed, and connected with people over the last difficult years of pandemic. Just a smattering include:

  • Zoom social hours, prayer time, worship has allowed people to share during time of isolation
  • "Who will win the Golden Halo?"
  • distributed ashes with a card/bookmark
  • live-streaming, outdoor worship, “coffee hours” in living rooms with Zoom
  • “For 14 Sundays in Stewardship season we invited 14 parishioners to write reflections on the Sunday gospel reading followed by questions relating to the reading and tying in stewardship. People loved reading about each other and gained new perspectives and learned a lot about their respective faith journeys. It was a really cool offering. We printed these as 8.5 x 11 handouts that went with the bulletins each week and followed up by cross posting on social media.”
  • A woman with health and mobility issues who can no longer worship in person signs on to the on line worship 15 minutes ahead of the time and personally welcomes each person who comes on line. It’s her new ministry!

If you would like to dive deeper into what was covered in the conference, you can view a recording of it at:

invite-welcome-connect-site

You will also find links there to the myriad examples of actual ministries shared. They demonstrate creativity, sensitivity to people’s needs, and generous love for the people of our communities.

Someone said at the very end of the gathering that what was important for the church was:

  • It’s not about the church, about people being connected to the living God
  • Move from inward focus to an outward one

There are important lessons for the church in that.

From decision making to discernment

Decision-making to Discernment

At a diocesan meeting of interim clergy that I attend each month, Catherine Massey of the diocese shared a resource that seemed to me to be rich in potential. The link above is to an article outlining a way for church leadership to begin the process of emerging from pandemic where we all are facing sometimes overwhelming decisions. The author outlines 5 steps that seem provocative and rich to me. Check it out.

  1. Broaden your Focus
  2. Ground your decision in guiding principles
  3. Shed ego and bias
  4. Listen for promptings of spirit
  5. Test Decisions with Rest

Question / Prompts from Diocesan Mission Strategies

Finally, I invite you to think about these prompts that come to us from the diocese. Share your ideas with someone. Again, the insights that can emerge from the conversation are rich.

  • What is the work happening in your church that brings life, joy, energy?
  • What ministries do you currently offer?
  • What partnerships are part of your current mission?
  • What are the strengths and characteristics of your congregation in which you take pride?
  • As you look at the priority areas of the mission strategy:
  • Which priority or priorities are connected to the work you are currently doing?
  • Do you see different priorities in particular areas of work and ministry?
  • If you see more than one, how and where do they intersect?
  • When you think of the future:
  • What work do you want to expand?
  • What work would you like to start?
  • What do you have in place/available to help you with that (new or expansion)?
  • What else do you need?
  • What obstacles do you need to overcome?

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