What has your ministry looked like since March 15, 2020?
This question will be the centerpiece of our annual Day of Ministry Discernment (DMD) for those who are discerning new forms of leadership in the church. This year, the DMD will be Saturday, February 20, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Zoom. The Commission on Ministry (COM) has been working diligently to make this a day through which all those discerning a call to new forms of leadership, whether to lay leadership, a religious order, the diaconate, or the priesthood, can dig deep into their sense of call.
Who has God called you to be? What gifts are intrinsic to you? How were you using them…and how are you using them now? For most of us, a sense of calling starts small and starts to grow over a long time. We often begin by talking to someone we trust and expanding from there into further circles of trust. That means, for those who’ve been discerning for some time, this time of pandemic might have caused the conversation to shift (minimally or dramatically). It’s important for us as church leaders to explore what that has looked like and what it might mean for a sense of call in the future.
So on behalf of the Commission on Ministry, I invite you to consider if the Day of Ministry Discernment is for you. If it is, we ask that you bring two people with you who know you well: one should be a spouse/friend/trusted person and one is a clergy person/leader from your congregation. These are the folks who should be part of your explorations and can help you see yourself through a different lens as you learn where God is leading.
Register for the event on the COM webpage.
As the Spirit moves in your life and heart, I hope the DMD will be a place to further that exploration amongst other members of our diocese who are also listening to that Spirit. I will see you there.