Spiritual & Personal Wholeness Committee  - Joyce Duerr Acting Chair

 

As your Spiritual and Personal Wholeness Committee, we seek to strengthen ministers councils by encouraging one another to reflect on the presence of God in our lives and to nurture our relationship with God and with each other.  We identified the following items for the April 2006 list for Strengthening Ministers Councils:

• Prayer Support System*
• Recognize and affirm gifts among constituents
• Celebrate ministry as a worthy calling/profession*
• Encourage holistic clergy wellness*
• Be proactive in calling young people to ministry
• Call Congregations to create a healthy climate for effective ministry
• Urge clergy to do periodic checkups at Center on Ministry

*Priority for 2006 

To that end we assume responsibility for the following:

 

During the Senate Session we provide

• Resource and structure for prayer partners
• A sacred space for personal respite and reflection

 

Following the Senate Session we will

• Distribute a monthly meditation by email.  We encourage sharing these with your local constituency.
• Develop the following resources

• List of Suggested Spiritual Disciplines     
• Directory of Respite Sites 
• Compilation of Articles & Essays on Spirituality of Baptist Distinctives 

Progress to Date

 

Suggested Spiritual Disciplines        (Sandy Walton and Carolyn Hutchinson)

• Regular sessions with a Spiritual Director provide accountability
• Labyrinth walks
• Praying during daily morning walk
• Biking on a nature trail
• Meditating over a theological tome
• Liturgy of the Hours
• Prayer Shawl ministry
• Fishing
• Participate in clergy covenant group

 

Directory of Respite Sites   (Joyce Duerr and Rusty Horning)

Senators are asked to submit information on available sites within each region.

 

Compilation of Articles & Essays on Spirituality of Baptist Distinctives  (Jonathan Malone, Forrest Cornelius, Pat Parker)

    Potential Topics:

• How do we embody church autonomy in worship?
• How do we practice soul freedom when reading scripture?
• How do we practice religious liberty in mission?
• Is baptism more an individual spiritual experience or an act of evangelistic nurturing on behalf of the church to the world?
• How does our discipleship empower how we voluntarily cooperate with one another in the church?

    Purpose: Start a conversation

• Solicit authors and suggestions of authors
• Explore means of continuing the conversation on web site, discussion forum, blogs, ABC Journal, and other methods of publication.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Joyce Duerr, Acting Chair