2020 Modules - Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose

Module 1: Partnering in Common Mission

In the first gathering of the peer group our purpose is to become acquainted with each other and each hub’s project; learn how the pandemic, financial instability everywhere, the death of George Floyd, and protests against racial injustices have impacted the congregations and hub; and provide an overview of each hub’s plans for 2020.

Pre-Meeting Work

Please read and reflect before the Zoom meeting:

Readings

Review the peer learning plan and coordination team analysis of 2019 program reports

Suggestion: Before the meeting, share with each other your hub’s 2019 program report and revised 2020 plans. Send questions, clarifications, and comments to another participant before the meeting.

Scripture Reflection on Koinōnia

To prepare for the meeting, take a moment to read and reflect on one or both scripture passages below. You can begin and/or end your meeting with a time of connecting your work and conversation with scripture texts on koinonia.

Koinōnia (partnership) in the letters of Paul. The New Testament sense of koinōnia (partnership, sharing) comes out of the very ordinary world of business partnerships, where partners share equally in both the hardships and the proceeds of their shared work, because they are equally committed and share the same values. Koinōnia is often translated as ‘fellowship’ or ‘sharing.’ Here we have mainly kept the language of partnership, to stress the active engagement of people who are drawn together by shared values.

In light of our focus to meet each other and share stories about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on your hub and congregations, our scripture reflection looks both at shared suffering and the power of reciprocity as we work together.

2 Corinthians 1:7 Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you are partners in our sufferings, so also in our consolation.
Philippians 4:15 You Philippians indeed know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church partnered with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone.

Comments:

The unusual opening verses of 2 Corinthians point to the terrible affliction Paul and Timothy have experienced in Asia, but also to the ways in which the church at Corinth has made the suffering bearable by their partnership and encouragement (another translation for “consolation”).
Toward the end of the letter to the Philippians, we learn that they have uniquely entered into a relationship of mutual generosity with Paul, involving deep trust on both sides.
The two readings open up questions about the hubs’ engagement with one another as partners in service to congregations dealing with the ongoing effects of racial injustice, financial instability, and the worldwide pandemic.

Zoom Meeting Agenda

Leader: Coordination Team

Discussion Questions for the Meeting

Hub Projects:

What do you see as the strength of each other’s projects? What are areas for improvement you could suggest to each other?
How has the pandemic, financial instability everywhere, the death of George Floyd, and protests against racial injustice impacted your congregations? What changes have you had to make in light of what is happening?
What is similar in what you are finding out about working with congregations? What is different?

Peer Groups:

What experience do you have with peer groups? What are your hopes for this group?
How can you stay connected and share information between meetings? What platforms do you have in common: email, Facebook, Instagram, other?

a. What kind of covenant could we make around technology that would help the group? What is honored (turn off camera at times, turn off phone) and what is to be constrained (texting on your phone, doing other work online, reading email)? How will we use the chat function? As a group? Are private chats allowed?

Scripture:

Share your reflections on the Scripture texts.

Next Steps:

Looking ahead to Module 2, is there anything you would like to add to the readings, resources, or agenda? Who would like to lead?

Additional Resources

On peer learning: Harewood, Brenda K., et al. So Much Better: How Thousands of Pastors Help Each Other Thrive, Christian Board of Publication, 2013.
On caregiving: Vibrant Faith’s C3 Project developed a module on the transition and calling into caregiving that could be particularly helpful for congregations in light of the pandemic.

Module 2: Congregations’ Projects on Calling

The purpose of this meeting is to describe and understand the kinds of projects that congregations are creating around calling, meaning, and purpose.

Pre-Meeting Work

Please read and reflect before the Zoom meeting:

Readings

Review the list of activities and themes for the congregational projects (presented at the 2019 annual meeting) and discussed in the 2019 program reports. Before the meeting, share with each other what you think the list reveals about the issues and questions of calling that congregations are exploring. Where are your congregations on this list?

Examples of congregation projects on calling:

saint benedict’s table, a member of the Anglican Church of Canada, is participating in the Collegeville Institute’s Communities of Calling Initiative. Their artist-in-residence created a comic to unpack the weaving metaphor they use to engage vocation.
Participating congregations in Boston University’s Creative Callings Project share their insights on questions of calling and discernment.

Scripture Reflection

To prepare for the meeting, take a moment to read and reflect on one of the scripture passages below. You can begin and/or end your meeting with a time of connecting your work and conversation with scripture texts on koinonia.

Partnering with and in the Gospel

Through their variety of missions, congregations are partners with the power of the Gospel to bring life to their communities.

1 Corinthians 9:23,I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become its co-partner.
Philippians 1:3-5,I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your partnering in the gospel from the first day until now.

Comments:

In the text from 1 Corinthians, Paul adds the prefix syn- onto koinonia, to stress the intensity of his commitment to share the Gospel, to be its partner, without any trace of personal interest or gain.
In the opening to the letter to the Philippians, Paul recognizes the deep sense of common values and common orientation that he shares with the Philippians as they live the Gospel in all their actions and relationships.
How do the congregational projects relate to an understanding of partnership in the Gospel? How is your hub a partner to the congregations in this work?

Zoom Meeting Agenda

Leader: One participant leads the meeting

Discussion Questions

Congregations’ Projects:

What are the primary ways in which your congregations are engaging Christian calling? How are they doing it?
What projects do you think will have the most impact? Why?
How are congregations learning? How are they learning innovation and what approaches are most compelling to congregations?

Hubs’ Work:

How are you gathering stories, insights, findings from the congregations? Have you used surveys, interviews, or other methods to capture how the congregations are approaching calling and/or innovation in their projects?
How are you building accountability around the congregations’ projects and the funding? What are the pros and cons of using “grant” language with congregations? What other language might be more helpful?

Scripture:

Share your reflections on the scripture texts.

Next Steps:

Looking ahead to Module 3, is there anything you would like to add to the readings, resources, or agenda? Who would like to lead?

Additional Resources

Patrick Reyes, Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood

Module 3: Discerning a Communal, Shared Calling

The purpose of module 3 is to explore how communities experience and discern God’s callings and how communal callings intersect with individual callings.

Pre-Meeting Work

Please read and reflect before the Zoom meeting:

Reading

Rev. Michael McBride, board member of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, preaches on the consequences of communal discernment and offers an example of how a church can honor the diversities within its members while discerning big questions together like: who is this Jesus we follow? How can we hold onto our faith? (The part of the sermon in reference begins at 1:54:25 and ends at 2:12:40).

Options: One participant prepare a case study on a community discerning a communal calling, focusing on what worked or what did not work; or select a common reading on communal discernment

Take time over the next month to observe your congregations in terms of community and share it with each other.

Who makes up the community in each congregation? What demographic information do you have?
What kinds of communities exist within the congregations? What are different forms of community?
What forms of communal discernment do congregations use? What works and what is missing in their discernment practices?

Scripture Reflection

Partnering with Christ

1 Cor. 1:9, God is faithful; by him you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Cor. 10:16, The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a partnership in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a partnership in the body of Christ?

Comments:

The foundational calling of Christian congregations is to partner with Christ for the flourishing of their communities.

In the opening of 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds the church as a whole of God’s call to them to ongoing partnership with Christ. The rest of the letter will unfold the implications of that calling.
Later in 1 Corinthians, Paul grounds partnership with Christ in the community’s experience of the Lord’s Supper.
What practices help your congregations recognize that a sense of calling to a particular ministry is shared among members of the congregation and is also a significant sharing in the life of Christ’s body?

Zoom Meeting Agenda

Leader: One participant leads the meeting

Discussion Questions

Communal Callings:

What communal callings have the congregations identified? How do they distinguish the language of calling and mission?
How are congregations connecting communal and individual callings?
What take-aways from Rev. McBride’s sermon might be helpful for your congregations to consider as they discern their communal callings?
What would help congregations discern a communal calling? What resources might they need?

Hubs’ Work:

How can we better work with congregations that are stalled, or their leadership is not engaged in the project?

Scripture:

Share your reflections on the scripture texts.

Next Steps:

Looking ahead to Module 4, is there anything you would like to add to the readings, resources, or agenda? Who would like to lead?

Additional Resources

Leadership Conference of Women Religious video on a method for contemplative dialogue
Jesuits of Europe video on communal discernment methods
Elizabeth Liebert, The Soul of Discernment: A Spiritual Practice for Communities;
Suzanne Farnham, Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community and Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations

Module 4: Community Partners

The purpose of this module is to examine the kinds of partnerships congregations are creating, how they discern this work, and what impact it has on them and their partners.

Pre-Meeting Work

Please read and reflect before the Zoom meeting:

Reading

Stories about the 2020 Traditioned Innovation Awards

How does a congregation work with its neighbors, not as helpers but as equals? This series of five short videos from Louisville Seminary tells the story of how Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis grew in partnership.
Video 1; Video 2; Video 3; Video 4; Video 5

Share a story you have found on strong and healthy partnerships.

Scripture Reflection

To prepare for the meeting, take a moment to read and reflect on the scripture passage below. You can begin and/or end your meeting with a time of connecting your work and conversation with scripture texts on koinonia.

In the middle of 2 Corinthians, Paul picks up the theme of the offering he is gathering from the Gentile churches for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. All of Paul’s churches are engaged as partners in this project together.

2 Corinthians 9:13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them [the saints in Jerusalem] and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.

Comments:

Here we see partnering occurring in two ways: the Corinthians are partners with the other congregations (such as Macedonia) in gathering an offering for the poor in Jerusalem; but they are also partners with the poor, bound to them not only by financial generosity, but by generosity in relationship and prayer.

Paul speaks of the “testing” or “proving” of this ministry. How are your congregations testing who might be good partners in their work of service?
What relationships are being created and tended in the ministry itself?

Zoom Meeting Agenda

Leader: One participant leads this meeting

Discussion Questions

Congregations’ Partnerships:

The videos from Broadway United Methodist Church offer examples of partnership between the church and local community. What kinds of partnerships are congregations forming? How do they discern who to work with and why?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of these partnerships? What are you learning about how congregations reach out to serve local communities?
What are we learning about the call to justice, the common good, and public life?
How are congregations connecting the community’s calling to service and justice with the callings of individuals?

Scripture:

Share your reflections on the scripture texts.

Next Steps:

Are there other questions and issues you would like to explore as a peer group? Would you like to continue meeting a fifth time?

Additional Resources

How is God working in your world? This section of ReFrame episode 8 from Regent College lifts up the joys and challenges of a diverse neighborhood community, arguing Christian communities cannot stay isolated within their walls. 1:50 – 5:55
On their “Studying Congregations” website, Boston University developed a tool kit for walking the neighborhood around a congregation. They note: “What we see around us is often very revealing. Groups come together in specific places, and those places shape who they are and give expression to their identity.”