Ministries Retreat

Now that we've gotten Easter stuff out of the way, let's talk about the next big thing that the 20s/30s group did. This would be the retreat we did at Christ the King Seminary, led by Douglas Fenton from the Episcopal Church Center, discussing the various ministries we were individually called to. Now I'll spend the next little while breaking that sentence down. All the way down.

We arrived at the seminary on Friday April 24th for a prompt 5:45pm dinner. I don't know if this was a Friday thing or what, but dinner was fish, rice, and oily carrots. Now I don't want anyone to think I'm complaining (after all, the retreat was completely free, paid for by the funds from the Trinity Grant we received), but I'm not a fish person so it's easy for me to be unhappy when faced with only one choice. They could have served shrimp and lobster and I would complain. But, they had wonderful strawberry shortcake for dessert so I just filled up on that instead. After dinner we gathered in the common room of the dorm we were staying at to get to know each other a little before starting.

Douglas is a very nice, soft-spoken slightly older gentlemen with a very good spirit. He obviously has a lot of practice facilitating these events, but I must really say that I was thoroughly impressed. A difficulty that the church has always had is with effective facilitation. There inevitably comes a time with certain groups where someone needs to put their foot down or even act as a taskmaster if the goals are to be accomplished. But regardless of what makes a good Christian, many people in the Church are really just nice (harmless) people who just want to hang out with other nice (harmless) people. (Aside: Making statements like this last sentence is a) one reason I believe I am not called to be ordained, and b) the reason I jokingly add disclaimers to my entries.) But Douglas has a certain way about him that gives him the ability to say to someone's face, "No, we are not doing that. We are doing this," without anyone getting offended or even batting an eye. And I can imagine that working with 20s/30s that this is an effective skill which he must use often. But that is not the extent of Douglas' abilities. He's also a very active listener with thoughtful follow-on questions. And lastly, taking a holistic approach to the retreat, there was a definite carefully laid out plan that was systematic, with the result of accomplishing more than I would have thought possible in about 22 hours. And that plan was all Douglas (even though he did tell us it was our retreat and we could do whatever we wanted...which no one did, so maybe he's also a Jedi).

So you want to know what this plan was and where it took us? First things first, we started with roundtable introductions, starting with Douglas and discussing what we do and what brought us to that place. Next we read a poem by Billy Collins entitled "Introduction to Poetry," which gave us a starting point for how we should be reading the Bible passages Douglas assigned. Then we gave a shoutout to Saint Mark (that is, read the collect for his feast day) and said a prayer for Ministry. Afterward, we read some of the "Call" stories from the Bible: the man who wants to inherit eternal life from Mark 10:17-22, God's call to Moses, Samuel, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and Jesus' call to the brothers. Finally we read John's announcement to the people of the coming of Jesus from Luke's Gospel. After we had read and discussed each of these readings, focusing on the similarities and differences, we were handed a sheet of paper with the 34 Marks of Discipleship. We went around the room, each reading one in turn and reflecting on them. Then we were asked to pick five marks that we found appealing, and one mark that was not something we were good at. After discussing these, we had a short compline and finished for the evening. This was around 9pm. I think I crawled into bed around 2am after much merriment, including some wine (bottles and a box) and Tanqueray. This, I think, was also part of the retreat because it gave us an opportunity to unwind and have some unstructured time to better get to know the people who'd attended and for Douglas to get a better feel for us as a group.

The next morning we had an early breakfast at 8:15am and reconvened at 9:30am for the next big step in the process. I apologize that I am not exactly clear on all these times so I'm taking a little license in the story, but I can assure you that if I'm off by any amount of 15-minute segments the effect is negligible. Douglas handed out a short "workbook" along with excerpts from The Message, apparently a book that tells the Bible stories as though they were written today. It's hard to explain if you don't know what it is and it's doubly hard to explain because I don't know exactly what it is. It's not a modern day translation because the words are changed considerably but the ideas are all still present. Hopefully that makes sense. I felt that it was really geared towards younger crowds and made the stories more accessible instead of having to read the story in the Bible and then translate it into a modern setting to make it applicable to my life, which was the reason we were reading them in the first place.

The workbook had instructions, which included reading a Bible passage and then reading a section of the workbook that discussed the different types of ministry, which the workbook explained to be gifts: Apostle, Prophet, Teacher, Miracle Worker, Healer, Helper, and Administrator. After reading the description of each gift, the workbook asked us to consider whether we or anyone in the group fit the description of that particular gift. I should tell you that the labels for the gifts are not meant to be construed in the strict sense we may think of them in. I'm gonna make some quick, gross generalizations, but that will have to do. Apostles are called to be ordained, Prophets are called to communicate God's message, Teacher are called to impart knowledge and train disciples, Miracle Workers are called to affect positive change in large and small ways, Healers are called to heal the mentally and physically sick, Helpers are called to encourage and keep the church moving, and Administrators are called to establish goals and execute plans. So, what type of ministry are you called to?

We were given about two hours to go off on our own to complete the workbook and contemplate our answers. Most people went somewhere outside where it was warm with a nice breeze. When the two hours were over we gathered for lunch. Although the culmination of the retreat happened after lunch when we discussed the gifts and who fit into which ones, there really isn't much to say about it. We basically discussed each gift individually and then identified people we thought fit that description. Sometimes Douglas would ask if a certain person was surprised at being identified with a certain gift or he would ask how the rationale given for identifying a person with a gift made them feel. After we had covered all the gifts we focused on each person individually and went around the room identifying what gift(s) we thought best fit that particular person. Each person wrote down the gift(s) that they were identified with and then Douglas asked us to think as we prepared for Eucharist about one way in the next year that we would further our ministry and offer it up at the service.

We had a pleasant Eucharist, which wrapped up the retreat, and by 3:45pm we were each off in our separate directions, me and Gus with Douglas in tow to get him to the airport. We hope to gather again in a few months to discuss any thoughts on the retreat and any progress we have made. It was truly an inspirational event, both for those of us who reaffirmed what we already knew about ourselves and those of us who may have found out something new about ourselves. I urge anyone who reads this that did not attend to take some time and consider what your own gift of ministry is and how you can possibly unleash it on the greater community.

There are some great tentative plans for summer gatherings, including Eucharists, Community Outreach, and social events (including a party at the Bishop's place!). Please stay posted on our facebook page and in the bulletin to keep track of what we have planned.

A. Peter Snodgrass