Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Epworth Resource Guide
Welcome
Hello and welcome to your community from everyone in the Epworth Project and the Missional Wisdom Foundation. One of J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous quotes from the popular book series The Lord of the Rings comes from Frodo as he is early on his journey traveling with friends and recalls a saying his uncle Bilbo used to tell him,
“He [Bilbo] used often to say that there was only one Road; that it was like a river: it springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. ‘It’s dangerous business, Frodo, going outside of your door…You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might sweep off to.’”
Together, with your house, with your community, and along with other Epworth residents we find ourselves journeying together on the road of intentional Christian community. We are here as the staff of the Epworth Project and the Missional Wisdom Foundation to support and companion you as the road stretches out. As one collective body we commit ourselves to each other in the midst of the many different treasures, obstacles, pains, or joys we may embrace along this road. The following guide is to serve as a resource for your house as together we live out this journey.
1
PA R T I
PA R T I I
Intentions
Committing to Talking about Commitments
“Ugh! Here we go again,” you’re probably thinking as you read the heading including the word “Commitment.” As much as we cringe, moan, and try to avoid talking about them, commitments are a reality of life. In one way or another—often unconsciously--we commit ourselves to someone or something in our life in the world. The early followers of Jesus discovered over time – sometimes with struggle – what it meant to commit their lives to living into a way of life in response to the call of this Messiah. In time they learned that this life of listening, following, and faith led them to a free-dom that benefits all of us.
How we as Epworth residents commit to live our shared lives together through common practices resonates strongly with early Christian communities that were struggling with similar issues – be it food, finance, worship, presence, service, attitude, and so on. The intentional part of living in an in-tentional Christian community is proclaiming that our shared practices or covenant will not rigidly rule us. Rather, we as housemates collectively commit to the practices (the traditional name for these is “rule of life”) together so that we might live into the freedom each one invites us to grow into as a spiritual family. Take the practice of “Daily Prayer” for example. Praying together daily does not need to be looked at as a chore, but rather a life-giving and empowering resource that spiritually feeds us both personally and collectively as we tend to our spiritual family. Each person gets the op-portunity to add shape and to illuminate something within the practice that reflects God’s image to the rest of the group. Together, with each person’s light shining, that radiance is captivating and beau-tiful to witness not only for those living in the house, but also in welcoming the neighborhood and oth-ers to come and take part too.
Basics Within the Household
Facing Finances
Finance is another touchy subject for most people, especially when combined with discussions about spirituality. Within the Epworth Project, the responsible use of and attitude toward money is part of the learning process for residents. Each resident pays rent monthly ($200 per month for 2015-16) because contributing to the financial cost of the house is part of stewardship. Through sharing
2
the costs of rent and utilities, and in some cases a portion of the food, residents learn how economi-cal living in community can be.
Household conversations
a. Establishing a Weekly Logistics Meeting
Having a space and time to name how we share common life together is crucial for living in unity rather than division. In the same way we seek to establish a weekly rhythm of prayer, so too we need to regularly set aside a space and time for a logistics meeting. At one of the Epworth houses this hap-pens currently on Mondays after their morning prayer. During the logistics meeting the residents set a schedule for the weekly meal as they discuss who is cooking, prepping, welcoming, and cleaning. Also they schedule who is cleaning what that week – the floors, the kitchen, bathrooms, etc. The resi-dents further discuss how our service hours went in the past week. If guests are coming, they sched-ule that into the calendar as well. And by scheduling, they mean actually taking a large calendar, plac-ing it on a table, and then writing out who is doing what and when for the different rhythms of the week (prayer, cleaning, meal rotation/duties). During this logistics meetings there is also time to wel-come any other issues, for example asking about certain neighbors who haven’t been seen around the area in a while, noting house repairs that are needed and how to get the repairs done, addressing when someone is going out of town, and so forth. Everything listed above may sound like a lot, but all together this type of meeting usually takes between 20-30 minutes. This span of time maybe the most useful and important 30 minutes a house can spend together each week outside of our prayer and weekly mealtimes. In fact, it is probably the most important time simply because it allows the
3
spiritual rhythms of prayer and fellowship times with meals for your community to be that much more sacred.
b. Creating a Space to be Open with One Another
Several houses over the years have adopted their own covenant or modern Wesleyan “band” time together that meets once a week. This type of spiritual group formation can take the place of one of your weekly prayer sessions. One of the houses currently starts their “band” meeting with having a short prayer together and then endeavoring to ask a simple but powerful question to each person, “How is the state of your soul?” Now you don’t have to be Wesleyan/Methodist, Catholic, Pentecos-tal, or whatever to realize the importance of that question. Most bands or “covenant groups” are made up of four important things.
First, there is the intention to take turns journaling what each person is expressing about the state of her or his soul. This is not in order to keep tabs on a housemate, but a way in which we can refer-ence what the person said the previous week as a means to help support them in their spiritual growth. When one person is giving an account, another person is journaling. If there are more than two people participating, then the role of the rest of those present is to be active, listening partici-pants. Then, once the person who is giving their account is done, the group rotates the role of jour-naling, the role of account giving, and of actively listening.
4
Second, when someone is sharing, there is the awareness to make sure that what is being ex-pressed is in relationship to their spiritual lives and how they experienced God in the midst of their daily interactions. The band/covenant space does not serve as a vacuum to only emotionally or physi-cally express whatever it is that someone is feeling, but bring along the spiritual aspect of what oc-curred as they share their emotional and physical states with one another.
Third, after each person is finished giving an account there is room left to offer each person pre-sent space to establish a “fast” for the coming week. When the word “fast” is mentioned, this is not only suggesting giving up food but anything that a person can “attain” or “abstain” from as a means to grow closer in sharing in the relationship that exists between God, neighbor, and self. Whatever practices a person gives up or takes on; they should serve to be rooted in connecting to growing deeper personally and communally with God.
Finally, the last thing that is offered in a band/covenant time together is offer a blessing in the name of Christ where each person, will look at one other and offer a phrase like, “_________ (per-son’s name), in the name of Jesus Christ know you are a beloved daughter (or son) of God.” This al-lows each person in the house to share in compassionately offering room to acknowledge the sacred worth each resident holds. Also, don’t hesitate to be creative and come up with your own house bless-ing that you can give to each other.
5
Example Questions to ask during your Band/Covenant Meeting:
We seek to allow our lives to be patterned around loving God, loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, and loving creation. The follow questions offer a way to reflect on our attitude and practice of loving.
1. In what ways did you experience or observe the presence of God over the last week?
2. In what ways did you miss responding positively or miss seeing “good” in others this past week?
3. How have you tended to your personal and spiritual life over the past week?
4. In what ways did I honor and care for creation this past week?
c. How to Embrace Good Practices both for Harmony in Communication, and in Conflict Reso-lution
Here is the reality, intentional community can serve to be one of the most beautiful experiences you will ever have in life, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. You will laugh together, cry to-gether, sing together, but you will also dispute, may yell, and even get in arguments with one another. This is not a bad thing! How we choose to reconcile when tension arises maybe one of the most im-portant things to learn while living in intentional community. The mutual self-giving nature between God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a good model to reflect on in terms of thinking about how to em-brace communication and conflict well. Indeed, to be made in the image of a triune God is to inten-tionally reflect healthy, mutually giving and receiving community. The Trinity provides a loving im-age that calls God, self, and neighbor to become aware of ways to be together yet individual persons as we live into God’s Kin-dom. We are called to come alongside our neighbors and be aware of the image of God that exists in every person. We do this because that image that we were all created in by God is an image of love that we are called to experience together. We are called to mutually love one another through a God-centered love. This is by no means an easy form of love to mirror, but part of our work in the world is to try to consistently, earnestly, vulnerably, and openly mirror this love. Loving with a God-centered love leads us to becoming stewards of reconciliation and healing in proactive ways.
One practical resource a community could add into their weekly rhythms is practicing “Clear” weekly. Either after prayer one morning or at another time, “Clear” is the practice of asking weekly “are we clear?” – is there anything that has occurred between the residents of the community over the last week that needs to be addressed? In this space, residents can name openly the small and large issues that will arise within community – from drinking the last bit of milk in the fridge and not re-placing it with a full carton to an unexpected emotional outburst. By proactively offering a safe place for open communication and healthy conflict resolution, a community chooses to receive the gift of living into God’s grace through the journey of reconciliation.
d. Role of the House Steward
The role of the house steward is to help establish the rhythms and flow of the house. The stew-ard seeks to encourage shared leadership with other residents in the house to build a foundation where healthy self and group accountability can flourish.
6
Nurturing our Spiritual and Personal Life
a. Forming a Rhythm of Prayer Together
Henri Nouwen in The Way of the Heart describes prayer as “…standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinc-tions and where we are totally one.” As a group, with different minds and hearts, the goal of daily community prayer is to openly and vulnerably explore that space together. How each resident can personally offer that space where they experience the presence of God deeply serves as a gift for the entire house to share. With the help of liturgical resources, spiritual directors, the Abbot, and more, your house will enter into the spiritual journey of prayer, learn a variety of ways to pray, cultivate a contemplative stance in life, and have the opportunity to openly share your minds and hearts with God.
Your house may find certain liturgies, scriptures, or books serve your particular community well for a very long time or for a very short timeframe. At one of the houses with 3 residents, they cur-rently divide out three days of prayer where each housemate can be in charge of leading prayer in their own way for a designated morning. These practices have varied from using lectio divina, vizio divina, prayer walks, scriptural imagination, Taize songs, Celtic liturgies, silent meditation, breath prayers, poetry, spiritual writings of saints, and other forms of prayer. They also use Common Prayer For Ordinary Radicals once a week. A good foundation for using different prayer practices through-out the week is to ground them in scripture. Currently, even though they pray three different times in three different ways together, they follow the same scripture by using the lectionary readings from Matthew. Here is a link for the lectionary readings – http://www.textweek.com/scripture.htm
7
As your house journeys through building this rhythm of prayer, know that you are not alone. The Abbot and Priors are avenues of support to help you discern the spiritual path you are creating as a house. Instrumental to this work will be the aid of our Spiritual Directors, Wendy and Ed Miller. They are available to walk with you in scheduling spiritual direction meetings one-on-one when you need them. They also serve as a well of deep wisdom and knowledge about prayer practices that your community can learn to embrace. Having others come alongside and offer support to your com-munity will provide that outside perspective every house will need throughout your journey.
Often prayer routines can become stagnated and less impactful because there is a lack of reflec-tion together on how or if these practices are spiritually nourishing one another in the house. Liturgy is lovely and an important tool to that can guide your prayer lives, but there are also other forms of prayer to explore. The goal of learning and using multiple prayer traditions over the span of 1-3 years is to help residents learn many ways of praying that can sustain them for the rest of their lives, and to help align your community’s head and heart, here and now. By setting aside time to come to-gether every so often, four times a year, every other month, or however long best serves your commu-nity, and asking, “how are we spiritually connecting to our rhythms of prayer” can be very helpful.
b. Scheduling Sabbath
Taking time to care for each resident’s personal life also serves as a necessary component in a healthy intentional community. Each resident will have the opportunity to schedule a “Sabbath Day” once a month. That resident will be able to let the others in the house know that on that specified day, they will be intentional about taking rest in whatever form they choose. There is the option to
8
take a spiritual day of rest at the Peace House in Garland. Columba’s Retreat is a room in Peace House dedicated for hosting individuals’ retreats. For scheduling purposes, please contact Wendy or Ed Miller, Randall Bell, or Elaine Heath in order to reserve a spot at the Peace House.
c. Spiritual Direction
Part of the support offered to each resident in Epworth is spiritual direction. Wendy and Ed Miller graciously provide their gifts and wisdom of leading spiritual direction for Epworth and the rest of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. Spiritual direction provides a person room to discern and grow in their personal faith journey by walking alongside a spiritual friend. It also can help during vo-cational discernment or times of transition in life. Ed and Wendy will also be leading Anam Cara, a new spiritual direction course that will train leaders who will then be equipped to offer group spiri-tual direction and support for each Epworth house.
In the Surrounding Community
Meals: The Weekly Community Meal
The weekly community meal serves as a vital component of spiritual life for the house and its con-nection with the local community. Here is where your house can build new relationships and together observe the stories, needs, and joys that are shared with your local neighbors. Community meal also provides an opportunity for persons from the anchor church or other anchor institutions to get to know the Epworth House and its immediate neighbors. Around the table each house creates room in which all may witness the presence of Christ through a living Eucharist. The fruit of being able to
9
share and grow together with the community and those in the house depends on the consistent pres-ence of each resident, who is expected to attend the meals weekly. Preparation of community meals may be shared sometimes by members of the anchor church or other institutions as well as neigh-bors, to help deepen the bond of fellowship and shared ministry.
Participation in New Day
The Epworth Project is a contextualized learning community that includes a commitment to par-ticipate regularly in a New Day gathering. Alongside other ministries of the Missional Wisdom Foun-dation, the New Day communities are missional house churches that offer students, laity, and clergy near and far an opportunity to participate in these “learning labs”, and learn best practices in devel-oping missional micro-churches beyond the walls of church. They are connected to area churches in various ways and typically meet on Sunday evenings or some other non-Sunday morning time dur-ing the week.
By participating in New Day each resident enlarges her or his spiritual worldview through shar-ing in multicultural worship and friendship with friends from different parts of the world. Through New Day participants learn about issues of injustice and poverty in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and become more capable of addressing both ministries of mercy (addressing immediate needs) and ministries of justice (tackling systemic injustice). Participating in New Day also allows those in each community to grow deeper in relationship with the residents living in different Epworth houses. To-gether, by participating in New Day we are able to learn how to offer room and space for all of God’s children to have a voice and lead as we share in God’s presence.
10
Over the coming year we expect to start a New Day community as part of The Julian Way, a comprehensive ministry focused on universal accessibility and ministry with families with disabilities. We also anticipate starting a New Day in East Dallas in the coming 2 years to serve families who are “spiritual but not religious” and need a theologically progressive faith community to companion them spiritually. When these 2 New Day communities launch, persons in the Epworth Project may choose to be in any one of them to fulfill the New Day aspect of the Epworth covenant.
Service: Serving in Your Neighborhood
Christian service is a constant thread that we find in the Gospels and letters that make up the New Testament. A mark of being a follower of Christ is to walk along side others and serve with those who are oppressed, alienated, forgotten, and in need. How community residents decide to choose service opportunities will depend on the location of the house, its relationship to anchor chur-ch(es) or institutions, and special needs that may arise in the neighborhood. At the Bonhoeffer House for example, service hours have led to starting and leading a local community bible study that meets weekly between members of the anchor church, another local church in the area, and with homeless neighbors. The missional focus of Bonhoeffer is friendship and discipleship with homeless neighbors. Cochran House currently fulfills its service commitment through the missional outreach of New Day in tutoring, ESL classes, cultural companioning and support with recently arrived refugees. Other op-
11
portunities will emerge in 2015-17 relating to serving the disabled community. The Savannah House reaches out to its upscale apartment complex in friendship and community support for hard working professional people. The Francis and Claire Houses are anchored at a Reconciling church, Lakewood UMC, thus offer hospitality, friendship, and support to young families and individuals from the LGBTQ community in East Dallas.
12
PA R T I I I
Epworth & Missional Wisdom Information
Rule of Life
Every house commits to come and live together in solidarity with one another by following the Epworth Rule of Life. Established monastic communities have utilized certain “rules” of life or “prac-tices” that guide their daily life of faith. For Epworth, the “marks” that comprise our rule are come from the different marks found in the baptismal covenant and membership vows that the United Methodist Church uses. Collectively, these marks are offered as a way to live holistically into our Christian faith with one another. As you can see, these marks apply well to any Christian from any tradition and do not require participants to become United Methodist.
PRAYERS
We will pray daily
We will use a variety of forms of prayer such as the reflective reading of Scripture and other spiri-tual texts, confession, the prayer of examen, intercession, journaling, and contemplation
13
We will fast from food, electronics, talking, media, or some other significant habitual and ordinar-ily necessary activity once a week (either a full or partial fast)
PRESENCE
We will practice a contemplative stance in order to be present to God, the world, and ourselves
We will be hospitable to our neighbors in our families, neighborhoods and workplaces
We will be hospitable to our faith community through participation in our worship, fellowship and mission
GIFTS
We will honor and care for the gift of the earth and its resources, practicing ecologically responsi-ble living, striving for simplicity rather than excessive consumption
We will practice generosity in sharing our material resources, including money, within and be-yond this community
We will use our spiritual gifts, talents and abilities to serve God within and beyond this commu-nity
SERVICE
We will serve God and neighbor out of gratitude for the love of God
We will practice mutual accountability with a covenant group within the community, for how we serve God and neighbor
We will practice regular Sabbath as a means of renewal so that we can lovingly serve God and neighbor
WITNESS
We will practice racial, gender, and other forms of reconciliation wherever we find sinful and de-structive walls of division between people
We will resist evil and injustice
We will pursue peace with justice
We will share the redeeming, healing, creative love of God in word, deed and presence as an invi-tation to others to experience the transforming love of God
Covenant Questions
Along with the Rule of Life, there are covenant questions that are encouraged for your house to use in growing with one another in Christian community. These questions are a great resource that
14
can offer deeper holy conversation with one another in your community. Many houses use these ques-tions once a month during part of their weekly prayer times, usually focusing on one mark.
Prayers
How did you experience prayer since we last met?
How did you experience fasting since we last met?
How can we support you in the development of your prayer practices?
Presence
In what ways were you present to your inner life? Your significant others? Your work or school as-sociates? Your neighbors?
How did you practice hospitality to your neighbors in your family, neighborhood, and workplace since we last met?
How have you been present to our faith community through participation in our worship, fellow-ship and mission since we last met?
Gifts
Since we last met how have you honored and cared for the gift of the earth and its resources?
How have you practiced ecologically responsible living, striving for simplicity rather than exces-sive consumption?
In what ways have you practiced generosity in sharing your material resources, including money, within and beyond this community since we last met?
How have you used your spiritual gifts, talents and abilities to serve God within and beyond this community since we last met?
Service
As you served God and neighbor since we last met, how have you nurtured a spirit of gratitude within yourself ?
In what ways have you struggled with temptation and sin since we last met?
How have you practiced Sabbath for your own rest and renewal since we last met?
How can we support you in your journey toward wholeness and trust in God’s love until we meet again?
15
Witness
In what ways have you been an active agent of reconciliation since we last met? How can we sup-port you in this process?
In what ways have you engaged in resistance against evil and injustice since we last met? How can we support you in this process?
In what ways have you shared the redeeming, healing, creative love of God in word, deed and presence as an invitation to others to experience the transforming love of God, since we last met?
Overview of MWF
The Missional Wisdom Foundation provides opportunities for adults, both clergy and laity, to learn how to live and/or work together in intentional community and how to develop missional com-munities in diverse social contexts in order to help the church become more faithful in bearing the gospel into the world. Our ministry involves both on-site learning communities (New Day, the Ep-worth Project, The Mix, and Ahadi Sewing Collective) and non-degree theological education through the Academy for Missional Wisdom. We also offer pilgrimage experiences, to help the church learn to be a pilgrim people who follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Our contextualized learning communities are each informally affiliated with one or more United Methodist Churches, which cooperate with the Foundation to provide spiritual guidance and connec-tion and missional outreach. Our communities include students from SMU’s Perkins School of Theol-ogy and elsewhere, persons working in non-profits to address root causes of poverty, and others. Our Epworth Project communities are multi-cultural and multi-racial. At this time more than a dozen churches are connected or impacted by the ministries of the Epworth Project, including Grace UMC, Lakewood UMC, Oak Lawn UMC, and Lover’s Lane UMC in Dallas, TX.
Leadership in MWF
16
Elaine A. Heath, Ph.D. | Leader
Elaine is a highly sought theologian, apostolic preacher, teacher, and prophet. Her work inte-grates systematic, pastoral, biblical and spiritual theology to constructively bridge the gap between academy and church, opening a path for missional emergence in both arenas. Central themes in Elaine’s theology include the wisdom of the great saints and mystics, the healing power of the gospel of Jesus, the church as God’s missional community of faith, and the centrality of the Holy Spirit in prayer, discernment and ministry.
Elaine is the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Meth-odist University. The Missional Wisdom Foundation was formed as a result of Elaine’s collaborative work with several Perkins students, most notably Rev. Dr. Larry Duggins. As co-founder with Larry, she remains a chief architect of new educational initiatives in the Foundation. Elaine, Larry, and Dr. Bret Wells collaboratively lead the Missional Wisdom Foundation.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (214) 399-3110
J. Larry Duggins, D.Min. | Leader
Larry is a pastor and a business person. He is equally comfortable in the worlds of spiritual lead-ership and financial analysis, and he seeks to understand the margins in which those worlds meet. Larry spent 25 years in the financial industry as a banker and an entrepreneur, and has led people all of his life. Central themes in Larry’s theology include the transformational power of pilgrimage, the importance of living into the mission Christ set forth for us, and the centrality of the Holy Spirit in prayer, discernment and ministry.
Larry and Rev. Dr. Elaine Heath co-founded the Missional Wisdom Foundation, and together with Rev. Dr. Bret Wells, they work as a collaborative lead team to direct the activities of the Founda-
17
tion. Larry holds a D.Min. with an emphasis in Missional Church and an M.Div. from the SMU Perkins of Theology, and an M.B.A., M.S. Finance, and B.A. from Louisiana State University. He is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church.
Cell: (817) 915-5181
Bret Wells, D.Min., M.A. | Leader
Bret is a certified professional coach, and coach trainer, specializing in the area of leadership and community development. He serves together with Rev. Dr. Elaine Heath and Rev. Dr. Larry Duggins as a collaborative lead team to direct the activities of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. Bret is a theologian, leadership coach, church planter, teacher, and father. Each of these roles serve as exten-sions of his calling to help people discover and live out purpose and calling in their own lives. Along with his wife and three sons, Bret is also exploring the possibilities of missional-monastic rhythms in a single-family home.
Bret holds a D.Min. with an emphasis in Missional Church from the SMU Perkins School of The-ology, an M.A. in Christian Ministry and M.Div. equivalency from the ACU Graduate School of Theology, and a B.S. in Psychology and Christian Ministry from Abilene Christian University. Bret also holds credentials as a Certified Professional Coach, and Energy Leadership Index – Master Prac-titioner from the ICF approved coach training program at the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (817) 889-2742
For more information on all of the leaders involved in Missional Wisdom, please visit http://missionalwisdom.com/about/people/.
Leadership in Epworth
Abbot and Priors
18
Part of the support system that each house received includes the service from the Abbot and Pri-ors of Epworth.
Epworth Abbot – Rev. Ceciliah Igweta
In her role as Abbot, Ceciliah is responsible for the spiritual care, missional guidance and account-ability of each of the new monastic communities. She is also responsible for the nurture and leader-ship of the People of New Day micro-churches. Ceciliah will be a trained spiritual director through Anam Cara this fall. She will lead in supporting group spiritual direction for the Epworth houses. She holds a Bachelor of Theology from Kenya Methodist University (KEMU) and a Masters in Theologi-cal Studies from SMU/Perkins School of Theology. Ceciliah is an ordained Reverend with the Meth-odist Church in Kenya (MCK). She has served in the pastoral ministry for more than seven years. Ce-ciliah has a passion for ministry and enjoys meeting new people in the community. She cherishes and agrees with John Mbiti: “I am because we are, and since we are therefore I am."
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (469) 260-0204
Epworth Prior – Adam White
In his work as Prior, Adam assists the Abbot with nurturing the spiritual care, organization, and guidance of the residents and house stewards that live in the Epworth Houses. Adam will also be en-tering into Anam Cara’s spiritual direction program and serve in aiding the spiritual formation of Ep-worth. He also serves in writing for the Foundation. Currently he is developing a resource guide for the houses and writing a short book on reconciliation and healthy communication for intentional Christian living communities. Rooted in his admiration for Wesleyan history and theology, Adam has a passion for modernly living into the transformational nature that John Wesley and the people called
19
Methodists begun with as they lived in a grace-filled tension between building deeper faith communi-ties within and outside of the local church.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (817) 939-3149
Epworth Prior – Rev. Justin Hancock
Justin’s role as Prior is to first continue stewarding the growth and development of the Julian Way towards becoming a realized intentional community and larger ministry. His goal is to grow this new ministry by continuing to build a network of support within the disability community; connecting with those members for fellowship and discipleship, and advocating for the Julian Way at confer-ences, denominational events, and through all other media. Julian Way holds the vision to grow a reputation and advocate responsibly for the causes of those with disabilities in general within the church and larger society. In addition to his responsibilities within the Julian Way, Justin assists the Ab-bot and collaborates with other Priors as assigned in the spiritual development of the Epworth Pro-ject through teaching and leading in the areas of Spiritual Formation and leadership. Justin is also in training with the Anam Cara program and shares the ministry of spiritual direction throughout the Epworth Project and within the context of the larger foundation.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (817) 214 418-0835
Spiritual Formation Band
Including the Abbot and Prior, the Spiritual Formation Band of Missional Wisdom functions to serve and orient the houses and residents of Epworth and the worship communities of New Day. This group meets monthly and makes room to prayerfully and openly discern together the direction and support of Epworth and New Day, and of other spiritual formation ministries of the Founda-tion.
20
Ryan Klinck – Story Holder
Ryan Klinck's role is to listen to the unfolding story of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, to dis-cover and hold in picture and story form the ‘extraordinary in the ordinary,’ capturing in these snap-shots the ‘pilgrimage’ we are on as a Foundation. He regularly can be seen taking pictures at events with his DSLR camera, interviewing Epworth Project residents, and gathering stories for the website and quarterly news letter.
Ryan also is the Assistant to the Director of Spiritual Formation, Wendy Miller, helping her plan retreats and studying with her as she tends the soul of the Foundation. He will also be supporting the spiritual growth of Epworth houses by being trained as a spiritual director through Anam Cara this fall. Ryan offices at the Mix which is a co-working space based out of a partnership with Missional Wisdom Foundation and White Rock UMC in Dallas.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (940) 390-7437
Wendy & Ed Miller – Spiritual Formation Leaders
Wendy & Ed Miller oversee the spiritual formation of Epworth, New Day, and the other branches of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. Wendy Miller is a contemplative story-listener and a transformative instructor. She has a deep love for the narratives, which form the biblical mega-story, narratives which offer a doorway for persons to engage with their own life and soul-story, and to en-counter God within and behind their storied experience.
Professor Emeritus in Spiritual Formation at Eastern Mennonite Seminary after teaching spiri-tual formation, spiritual direction, and supervising training of spiritual directors for 19 years, Wendy continues to nurture the spiritual formation and training of lay persons and clergy in various United Methodist and Mennonite Conferences for the missional ministry of tending the soul of persons/
21
congregation/ communities within and beyond the church. She is an ordained minister within the Virginia Conference of the Mennonite Church.
Ed Miller has been in ministry all of his life and is an ordained minister within the Virginia Con-ference of the Mennonite Church. He is married to Wendy Miller and serves as a spiritual director for the Foundation. Some of Ed’s interests include poetry, gardening, and renovating houses. Ed brings friendship and a listening ear wherever he goes in his neighborhood and city. He lives with Wendy in the Peace House.
Wendy & Ed’s Email: [email protected]
Wendy’s Cell: (540) 421-9725
Ed’s Cell: (540) 421-5226
Randall Bell – House Maintenance Contact
Randall Bell is Epworth’s contact person for all maintenance and repair based issues. He lives in the Peace House and is married to Elaine. He is a man of many trades and can fix just about any-thing, not to mention he is a fantastic cook. He loves sharing his wealth of knowledge and teaching others how to do things well. Randy works on and determines the repair needs of all the Epworth Houses, along with overseeing various projects.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (214) 399-3109
Denise Crane – Epworth Billing
22
Denise is retired from a career in the telecommunications industry and can now indulge her love for finding ways to love God and love people. She lives in Southlake, TX with her husband John and whichever of their two young adult children or their dogs are in town at any given time. Denise loves to spend time assisting others in practical ways while developing relationships through Sunday School teaching, youth group leadership, volunteering and study groups. She also works in writing grants and helping with finance issues within the foundation. Denise serves as a part-time employee assisting the MWF in finding funding for it’s many new and existing educational and experiential programs. She has personal experience with pilgrimage and is a student of Christian spirituality.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: (817) 454-1608
Missional Wisdom Foundation Leadership Structure
23
Elaine'Heath'Construc)ve,Theology,,Educa)onal,Architect,,
Forerunner,
Larry'Duggins'Pilgrim,Theology,,
Resource,Management,Leadership,Mentor,
Bret'Wells'Prac)cal,Theology,The,Academy,Coaching,
Wendy''Miller'
Denise''Crane'
Daryn''DeZengo9ta'
Robert''Bishop'
Randy'Bell'
Rachel'Wells—admin'Educa9onal'ini9a9ves'
Ryan''Klinck'
Rachel'Wells'–admin'Launch'&'Lead,'etc.'
Rachel'Wells—'bookkeeping'
Business'Opera,ons'
Lead,Team,
MWF,Band,
Fundraising'
Accoun,ng'
Repor,ng'
Communica,on'
Pilgrimage'
Mentoring'
Income;related'Test'Gardens'
Evangelism'
Spiritual'Forma,on'
New'Ini,a,ve'Design'
People'of'New'Day'
Clarify'&'Odyssey'w/Larry'
Launch'&'Lead'
Coaching'
Cohort'Forma,on'
Informa,on'Technology'
Primary,Ac)vi)es,
Missional,Wisdom,Founda)on,
Ceciliah'Igweta''''Adam'White''''Jus9n'Hancock'
Epworth, Clarify,and,Odyssey,w/Elaine,
