Mentoring Reboot
For many years, our congregation’s Mentoring Program has helped young people deepen their faith and feel more connected to our church community. Beginning around 6th grade, youth have the opportunity to be paired with an adult mentor who walks alongside them as a listening ear and fellow companion on their…
Time to Expand?
Earlier this year Leadership Team (LT) began discussing the possibility of creating a new part time pastoral position. Several intersecting factors have prompted this discussion. A primary one is a desire to be proactive. LT sees a healthy and active congregational culture and has wondered if now is the time…
Marking Transitions
Last evening 11 of us sat in a circle of chairs at the front of the dimmed sanctuary. The Transitions group has met for the last two months and this was the closing ritual. Each person brought items that symbolize what is ending in their life and what is emerging. …
Mennonites and Organizing
Right after Sunday school I jumped into the car and headed down to Harrisonburg, Virginia, home of Eastern Mennonite Seminary. I made it just in time for the beginning of the conference “The Promise and Possibility of Anabaptist Organizing.” I was part of a panel of “Pastor Organizers” on Monday,…
Resistance and Rest
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the relationship between resistance and rest. Put another way, how does actively and openly confronting our cultural pathologies of greed, violence, and racism relate with things that restore our souls, things we enjoy for their own sake – time with friends, eating good…