Holy Conversations

The Community of Learning for Holy Conversations and Holy Actions. Sounds a little like a monastery. One might expect austere rooms and monks moving about in silence. I guess I could claim a little personal hardship, but the truth is that we stay at a very nice corporate retreat center in Houston. Holy Conversations is a Texas Methodist Foundation strategic planning series. There are four long weekends spread over a two year time period as five church teams study and learn about planning the future of our churches and their work in the Kingdom. Gil Rendle is the primary speaker, and he and Alice Mann wrote the book that we used. Gil was a senior consultant for the Alban Institute and his insight into leadership, planning and Scriptural relevance is just awesome. John Thornburg helps out with worship and the music, and if Gil is the head, then John is the soul of the weekend. He likes to use pirate songs, African music, poetry and other things he has picked up from his world travels to make worship delightful.

The neat thing about Holy Conversations is that it does not work without the laity. In fact, the premise is that the laity and clergy plan together and implement together. One of the first tasks was to really get to know our own church and community through demographic, historical and measured research. We found our church in the Biblical story as Antioch, sending forth Paul and Barnabas to start new churches. We learned who our neighbors really are, especially out in the area where we are planning a new church start. We were invited to step up into the balcony of the church and observe, as opposed to being down in the congregation doing our usual work. Then came the interesting part, which was relearning our role as leaders. Not to strictly be problem solvers, but to ask and consider the hard questions. Solving problems just maintains the status quo, and that may not be a broad solution for underlying issues in the church. Gil talked quite a bit about discomfort. Discomfort can lead to conversation which may bring about needed change. We learned about facilitating conversation and sustaining that type conversation and avoiding real blow ups in the congregation. We learned a few Swahili songs.

One of the best parts about Holy Conversations is the people we met from the other churches. We got a glimpse of their vision on ministry, their successes, their hurts and their passion. We learned from each other and we worshiped together. We celebrated lay ministry together. As laity in ministry, it is good to walk together a while on our faith journeys. To carry someone's backpack for a bit as they catch their breath. To sing and listen to songs of the road and to hear tales of other journeys. To have Holy Conversations.

Joy!

Bill