Reflections of a Running Reverend

This post is the last of a six-part series on the points I made in my Superintendent's Address in June. These are six things I am passionate about in my role as Superintendent and these are six things I am hoping that clergy and laity in the Alaska Conference would take seriously. To review, here are the first five with links to the first five posts: Engage: We need to identify and engage our mission field. Welcome : We need to cultivate a culture of genuine welcome. Disciple : We need to live a culture of discipleship. Risk : We need to allow a culture of experimentation and innovation to thrive. Connect : We need to recover a culture of connection among us. The last word is Call. We need to foster a culture of call in our churches. Our faith communities need to be spaces where calls from God are discerned, made certain and nurtured. I was able to discern my call to ministry through the encouragement of folks in my home church. They fostered a safe space where I

I am continuing t he 6-part series on the points I made in my  Superintendent's Address   in June. Again, t hese are six things I am deeply passionate about and encourage our pastors, lay people and churches to be serious about them as well.  For this fifth installment, I  would like to talk about the 6th point I made in the address, because of its relevance to current events in the life of our conference. The need to connect Photo Credit: Doug Handlong Last week, pastors and other professional church workers of the Alaska Conference came together for their annual retreat at beautiful Birchwood Camp. The retreat followed closely on the heels of the New Clergy Orientation which also at the camp. Photo Credit: Doug Handlong Doug Handlong, chair of the Professional Ministries Unit who organized the retreat,  led us in a time of deep sharing of joys and concerns ending with a time of praying for one another. Spiritual Director Rebecca Johnson led the group in a gui