It is such an honor, a privilege, and an experience of grace to have received a grant from the Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program for a four-month sabbatical beginning January 2015. You can read more about the Endowment below, but I first want to summarize the theme and content of the renewal program that this grant makes possible.
Theme: A Web of Connection.
A web is a helpful metaphor for how we grow in faith and understand the world we live in. The people, places, and experiences that shape our lives represent the strands of the web that are connected through an intricate, intersecting pattern. Each web is unique, just as each person, pastor, and congregation is unique. As we grow and have new experiences, additional threads are added while some strands are let go. A web is a dynamic structure that is adaptable while also maintaining aspects of its original integrity.
I will use this renewal time to weave a web of connection that brings together significant people and places that are important to my ministry and faith formation. I have experienced God's blessing in the diverse array of people, places and experiences that have formed me as a person and as a pastor. This relational and geographic web has not only shaped my identity and sense of call, but has also become an important source of energy and sustenance in ministry.
The four fazes of this renewal program are as follows:
1) Pasadena, CA - I received formal ministry training at Fuller Theologcial Seminary in Pasadena. During my studies I also worked with the Center for Anabaptist Leadership, which was a partner ministry with the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. Through my studies and work, I was able to learn from amazing professors and pastors in Southern California.
2) Tanzania - In 2012 Toledo Mennonite Church began a sister-church relationship with Mennonite Church of Dodoma. This has been an exciting opportunity to build deeper relationships with another part of the global Mennonite family and to learn about how God is at work in another part of the world.
3) Germany - Some of my best friends from seminary are now working, serving, and minstering in Germany. I'm very excited to see them again, catch up, and learn about their work. I also look forward to seeing some of the significant places where the Anabaptist and Mennonite history began.
4) Toledo, OH - There are a lot of good people and organizations doing kingdom work in Toledo. As I continue to work and live in this city, these local partners will continue to be an important part of the ministry that God is calling us to at Toledo Mennonite Church (TMC).
The funding from the Endowment will enable my family and I travel to all these places and visit with all these people. Each of these places and all the people we will see have been an important part of my web of connection that has shaped me and continues to inspire and sustain me.
By extension, these people and places are also a part of the web of connection of TMC. During the renewal program, TMC will also be building upon this same theme. Guest speakers from mission agencies and universities that are part of our TMC web will come to preach and lead us in worship. The congregation will read and discuss the book Called written by Fuller Theological Seminary president, Mark Labberton. And we will also coordinate several skype video calls so that I can engage with the congregation from the various locations my family and I will be traveling.
The hope and prayer for both myself and the congregation during this sabbatical is that we will be refreshed and strengthened for ministry through the connections we have with others in our own city and around the world. May God's Spirit excite, animate, and inspire us all during this renewal program.
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(Text taken from a sample press release provided by the Lilly Endowment).
INDIANAPOLIS - Christian Theological Seminary, in its role of administering the Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program, has awarded grants to 140 congregations located in 36 states to enable their pastors to step away from daily responsibilities for a period of reflection and renewal. The 2014 program provides pastors with time for travel and immersive experiences in different cultures, opportunities to participate in spiritual retreats and pilgrimages, and focused periods for writing and research about challenges facing Christian communities.
“Pastors play an indispensable role in guiding the work of congregations and the daily demands of leadership are unending,” said Dr. Christopher L. Coble, vice president for religion at the Endowment. “Lilly Endowment is pleased that this program enables hardworking pastors to step away briefly from their ministerial responsibilities for rest and renewal.”
Congregations are awarded grants in the National Clergy Renewal Program to honor and support renewal programs for their pastors. These congregations represent a diverse group that includes Protestant, Catholic and nondenominational churches. Congregational leaders worked with their pastor to design their renewal program and to determine how their pastor would use the grant funds to replenish, restore and renew their pastor’s ministry. Travel to varied destinations and journeys into nature are popular activities for the participating pastors. One pastor will travel to the Iona community in Scotland. Another will engage in study of peace and reconciliation at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, and several recipients will engage in cross-country trips with their families across the United States in order to visit significant places in their lives and ministries.
“We can think of no better way to honor these faithful men and women than to help them experience personal and spiritual renewal in ways that they themselves design and find meaningful,” Coble said. “We regularly hear that these renewal experiences are transformative for pastors, their families and their congregations.”
In addition to travel as a form of renewal, some pastors will use their time away from congregational leadership to explore music and the arts or enjoy extended periods of tranquil solitude and reflection. One congregation will send its pastor to engage in genealogical research while simultaneously immersing himself in the writings of John Wesley. Another pastor will practice techniques of improvisational theater to see how they might impact congregational ministry.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Saler, director of the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, noted that the National Clergy Renewal Program gives congregations an opportunity to demonstrate support, trust and encouragement for their pastor.
“The program is designed to respect the innate human need to balance times of work and service with periods of rest and replenishment,” Saler said. “It provides a means for congregations to express appreciation for their leader’s service and respect for his or her health and energy for continued ministry.”
Since 2000, more than 1,900 congregations across the nation have received grants in the National Clergy Renewal Program to support the renewal programs of their pastors. Congregations in the 2014 program received grants totaling more than $5 million. Christian congregations were invited to apply for program grants of up to $50,000. Up to $15,000 of the grant could be allocated to fund interim pastoral leadership as well as to support renewal activities within the congregation. Pastors were encouraged to include their families in the renewal activities.
“At a time when society is experiencing unprecedented levels of change at ever increasing speeds, it is rewarding to offer programs that recognize the value of retreat and renewal,” Saler said. “We are honored and privileged to work with Lilly Endowment in its support of congregational leaders.”
The National Clergy Renewal Program is part of Christian Theological Seminary’s Center for Pastoral Excellence, which has administered the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs since 2012.
For a full list of 2014 award recipients, please see the full press release (PDF, 138 kb).
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