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Breaking new ground for spiritual growth at St. C’s

(Originally published in the February 2012 Newsletter)

In the April 2011 newsletter, we first introduced the idea of an Adult Formation Support Team, whose primary role would be to plan and facilitate events such as Wednesdays at St. C’s classes, Sunday Forum presentations, retreats, quiet days, workshops, pilgrimages and other means of Christian formation and practice. That team has been working together for six months now, collaborating with staff and parish leaders to imagine ways that we can help people continue to grow in taking the gospel to heart, developing their relationship with God and deepening their understanding of the Christian way.

Those who are pioneering this ministry include Rosemary Dickerson, Joel Dillard, Terry Dowd, Nancy Jokovich, Suzi Kindervatter, Kathi Kolbe and Jim Vaughter. They will soon have distinctive name badges to help you to recognize them.

But in a church that proclaims, as we do on the masthead in our Sunday wrapper, that the ministers are “all the people of St. Columba’s,” we depend on all in our community to help us live into our Christian faith—which is why we need each of you to assist us in the work of planning formation opportunities.

The Adult Formation Support Team is meant to be a sounding board, and we are asking you to share with us your dreams, wishes and suggestions about new ways that we might practice lifelong formation in community. What topics, speakers, themes or issues might we address in forums, classes, workshops and groups? How might we deploy the many useful resources available through the Internet, or provide new and compelling resources for others through our own website? How can we intentionally address the needs of all those in our community, including or especially those who may not have a solid grounding in Christian traditions, spiritual practices or ways of prayer? We invite your thoughts and questions, which will be the stimulus for breaking new ground for spiritual growth at St. Columba’s.

Please also consider offering your services to support formation events. This could be something as simple as being a greeter at an Advent or Lent quiet day, or helping to organize the lunch and refreshments at a workshop. Our hope is to build a network of willing hands, since the more we can share these kinds of tasks, the lighter they become.

The ministry that we are exploring on this team is bound to expand in the years ahead. Indeed, the team will be recruiting new members in the near future. Might you feel called to this ministry? We especially hope to attract members in their 20s and 30s, so that we can integrate the viewpoints and experiences of the different generations present here at St. Columba’s.

Last but not least, we ask each of you to pray for the work of the Adult Formation Support Team. Its success depends on our openness to the Holy Spirit at work among us, as we seek to “grow up in every way” into Christ, as the Letter to the Ephesians says.
 

Martin Smith