Sharing our Stories
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| AK Professional Church Workers' retreat at Birchwood Camp |
Last week, we got together for our annual Professional Church Workers' retreat at Birchwood Camp. Our schedule this year was a departure from the "learning retreats" we've had in previous years. It was a time to share, reflect, hang out, play, rest and simply be. There were inputs from a Spiritual Director and a couple of our colleagues but these, too, were geared towards community building and spiritual reflection. Many said it was renewing, refreshing, what a retreat should be.
One of the things I really appreciated about the retreat were the offline sharing of stories. Conversations were not programmed. They just happened organically- during meals, on the walking trails, in the cabins, while knitting or hanging-out. Of course there were programmed small group discussions, but these only led to deeper conversations outside of the sessions. Relationships were definitely forged and strengthened among colleagues.
Sharing our stories- sharing how God has been working in, through and inspite of us. This is and has always been an important component of faith development. The Hebrews passed on stories of their culture and their faith to the next generations through feasts like the Passover.
When I visited our UM churches in Southeast Alaska a couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised by the great stuff happening in those churches. They are engaging their mission fields big time! Ketchikan has a day shelter for the homeless. Sitka has become a spiritual refuge for those disillusioned by church politics. Northern Light has a thriving native ministry and food pantry. Aldersgate has a feeding program for children in their neighborhood elementary school. Douglas had just received a grant and was getting ready to do the same thing (they started last week!). The cooperative youth ministry among our three Juneau churches is thriving. These are definitely stories to share!
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| Kids at Aldersgate packing food for the neighborhood school |
One thing I vow to do as I hear and experience these wonderful stories is to be a vessel by which they can be shared all around the conference and across the connection. I offer my passion in photography and my interest and experience in video production to capture images and short clips about the great things happening in our Alaska UM churches. My vision is to have a page on our website where these stories are told in images, articles and videos. These will be offered, not to brag but to celebrate, to inspire, and to offer something for others to learn from or copy. Ultimately, it is to build each other up.
Growing in faith is ultimately a matter of sharing our stories with each other. As David Kinnaman said in his book, You Lost Me, "...disciples cannot be mass-produced. Disciples are handmade, one relationship at a time." As we go about our "business" of making disciples, may we be about the business of sharing our stories with each other, building relationships and faith.
your fellow disciple,
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