Faith Formation 2020 Initial Report
(Editor’s Note: Faith Formation 2020 was funded, in part, by the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grant from the Lilly Endowment and the Evangelical Education Society. This post repeats informaiton in the September 2010 report to EES.)
Personal Reflections
When the idea of a gathering of seasoned faith formation educators and practitioners emerged from a conversation with Sharon Pearson during the 2009 Kanuga Christian Education week, I (Julie Lytle) had two hopes. Personally, I wanted to contribute to Episcopal faith formation effort and needed help in clarifying my role and identifying ways my gifts could be shared. Institutionally, I hoped the Episcopal Divinity School could be a catalyst to help bridge relationships between practitioners and academics as we help God invite, inspire and transform God’s people. I have been fortunate to serve in many contexts in which personal desires matched institutional needs. My ultimate hope was to that some type of forum for continued collaboration, mutual support, and accountability would develop.
I planted the seeds of this dream with Sharon Pearson, Fredrica Harris Thompsett, and Christi Humphrey as we prepared for the Episcopal Faith Formation 2020 Initiative. I could never have anticipated the garden that would begin to sprout because of our efforts. What emerged was an unimaginable breadth and depth of collegial relationships, boundary-crossing partnerships on current efforts, and conversations about new initiatives. Nineteen participants gathered on the Episcopal Divinity School campus: Kate Gillooly, Cathy Ode, Ema Rosero-Norlam, Carolyn Chilton, Pat Mitchell, Amy Cook, Lydia Kelsey, Ruth-Ann Collins, Sarah Eagleheart, Dorothy Linthicum, Mary Hickert Herring, Vicki Garvey, Karen Meredith, Susanna Singer, Renee Peggs, Christi Humphrey, Fredrica Harris Thompsett, Sharon Pearson, and Julie Lytle. These women gathered to share needs and resources, fears and strengths, concerns and hopes, in ways that will bear fruit in the Episcopal Church’s evangelization and lifelong formation ministries for years to come.
Some of wehat I re/learned because of the gathering is
- The Spirit is alive and well within the Church!
- Stories give us perspective, direction and identify
We need to be Story-Keepers – holding the wisdom of the ages
We need to be Story-Tellers – reminding all of God’s people of the Stories of Salvation by interpretting them in a new context
We need to be Story-Makers – living lives shaped by an awareness of God’s presence so that our stories become one with God’s Story - The gifts that we need to help God invite, inspire, and transform Gods people are within the community of faith that is gathered; we need to confidently claim and share them.
- We need COMPANIONS on the journey…. (We cannot do it alone)
* Who we trust and with whom we can be vulnerable
* Who will challenge us, checking what they understand to be our direction and motivation, so that we can stay on the journey together
* Who support us – holding us when we stretch beyond our comfort zone, when our beliefs are shaken and convictions wane, and when we have spent all of our physical, spiritual, and/or emotional energy
* Who hold us accountable – gently nudging us when we need a reminder about whose we are and what we said we would do to contribute our part of God’s mission
* Who celebrate with us – birthdays and deaths, sickness and strength - We can change institutions and institutional directions.
Institutions are made up of people who can choose to move toward God or away from God. - FEAR must be checked at the door is we are to reach toward the dream of God; we know how to CREATE SPACES to do so. We need to confidently speak truth to power, particularly when our institutional structures are no longer counter cultural.
- TOOLS are available . . . as are teachers to help us learn how to use them
* To heal hurts
* To manage conflict
* To maintain cultural sensitivity
* To protect all of God’s creation - We need to MAKE TIME – for God (prayer), for self (self care), for others (checking direction and following The Way)
We need to say NO when demands are unreasonable if we are to model the self care we call others to proactive
For those gathered, the immediately obvious impact on many was a shift from their self identified feelings of isolation to an awareness of each other as co-journeyers. There was a also an energy that built as participants realized this was not a gathering to add more to their already demanding lives but a space to invite others to collaborate in mutually beneficial ways. Most importantly, there seemed to be a spark of hopefulness as the Spirit renewed us. This can be seen in the way the story of the Egyptian midwives became emblematic during our time together. Together, Shifra and Puah ensured birth, supported life, and spoke truth to power. Typically responsible for orchestrating a myriad of elements simultaneously, often without much support, it was important for many of us gathered to be bolstered in a group of like-minded women and enboldened. By the closing, some of the group was using the name “Shifra and Puah Society” to identify ourselves.
Awareness of Faith Formation 2020 has been spreading across the church. Informally, invitee have told others. This informal channel will continue to tell the story of our time together and the impact it had on each participant’s life. Formally, Sharon Pearson posted a brief reflection on her blog Rows of Sharon (Sept 10, 2010 post) and others have been blogging about the gathering. There is a “daily report” that contains a record of our interactions which will be mined for future conversations, particularly our periodic web conferences. Ongoing reflections can be found here.
Sharon Ely Pearson
Julie Lytle
Episcopal Faith Formation 2020 