Throughout the Bishop’s Commission on Mission Strategy process, Goal One — Spiritual Transformation — has been lifted up as a foundation from which our mission strategy can be built and can grow. The Task Team for Goal One has prepared the following report on its work to date, its hopes for the future, and how individuals and congregations can work with the team and with each other to help bring this transformation to pass. Its efforts are focused in three areas: Scripture-based spiritual practice, spiritual gifts discernment, and spiritual direction.

The Task Team on Spiritual Transformation is well aware that we do not have the power to spiritually transform the people and congregations of the Diocese of Minnesota. That power belongs to God. We believe that the Spirit of God is at work among us and that the seeds of our future have been planted in our midst. We invite all those who long for such transformation and sense the presence of the Holy Spirit among us to join in a common endeavor, so that we might discern the Spirit’s work and to learn from each other.

Click here to read stories of spiritual transformation from around the diocese and to add your own!

Gospel-Based Discipleship or Other Scripture-Based Spiritual Practice

Following the example of our Native American congregations, we invite all congregations that are currently practicing or would like to begin a regular discipline of Scripture-based prayer and reflection to be part of a year of engaging the Gospel together. As we learn of the congregations that are practicing Gospel-Based Discipleship, the task team will work to strengthen relationships and learning between us. We will encourage those with long experience and confidence in this work to share their learning with us. We will convene regular conference calls and web-based communication across the diocese, in order to facilitate mutual learning and resource sharing.

Learn more about Gospel-Based Discipleship at the end of this article, at the Native American Ministries site, or at this diocesan blog.

Ongoing work

Prior to the Diocesan Convocation in May and Diocesan Convention in October, we will ask those who are using GBD or another Scripture-based practice to reflect on how such a regular communal practice of reflecting on Scripture and listening to Christ’s Word is affecting them.

Episcopalians are not, in general, known for knowledge and love of Scripture. What would it mean from our congregations to become centers of Gospel reflection, where people gather to hear the Word of Jesus for them and for the world?

You are invited!

If your congregation is engaging in regular Gospel-Based Discipleship or other Scriptural discernment, we ask that you identify yourselves to the Task Team. If you would like to learn more or to have a visit from someone with experience in Gospel-Based Discipleship, we would love to hear from you as well. Please contact the Rev. Mariann Budde (mebudde@stjohns.org) any of the leaders: Cindy Peterson-Wlosinksi (cmpetefarm@aol.com); Ernie Ashcroft (kritter@visi.com); or Blair Pogue (rector@stmatthewsmn.org); or leave a post at http://episcopalmn.ning.com/group/msn.

Spiritual Gifts Discernment

This endeavor is more programmatic in nature. Following the example of our Total Ministry teams and others who have engaged the work of spiritual gifts discernment, we invite all those who wish to experience the discernment of gifts to join us as we learn. The Task Team has decided to focus its learning efforts on LifeKeys, a spiritually-based comprehensive program for discovering life gifts, spiritual gifts, personality types, values, and passions. Several congregations and individual leaders of the diocese already have experience with this program, and the team is grateful for their guidance and support. LifeKeys’ sponsoring organization is located in the Twin Cities, which makes training opportunities accessible for all who wish to learn more, and its materials are readily available for purchase through the LifeKeys website or through other online bookstores. LifeKeys has also been adapted for use with teenagers and young adults.

Ongoing work

In the spring of 2009, the Task Team will identify congregations that wish to offer LifeKeys workshops, and will support their efforts with resource materials and, if possible, personal support. We will encourage congregations to work together and share their learning. Several congregations have already decided to offer LifeKeys experiences in Lent. One congregation is planning a LifeKeys retreat for its senior high youth.

For contact information for the gifts discernment, please contact Ernie Ashcroft Ernie Ashcroft (kritter@visi.com).

You are invited!

The LifeKeys organization is offering a three-day training session March 9-11 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville. The cost for each participant is $250 for all three days. We invite those interested to join us in being trained as LifeKeys leaders, so that we can more competently use this gifts discernment tool throughout the diocese. Click here to learn more.

There are other worthy materials for gifts discernment, and we look forward to learning from congregations that have benefitted from their use. This is a year of “pilot experience” and of learning. If you are already engaged in a helpful process of gifts discernment, or would like to be part of those who will engage LifeKeys in the coming months (perhaps as a Lenten series?), please identify yourselves to us.

Spiritual Direction

Work is just beginning in this focus area. There are a number of trained Spiritual Directors in our diocese, and the Task Team hopes to identify them as an informal network (fitting in with Mission Strategy Goal Three!) to serve as resources for individuals and congregations.

Spiritual Direction is usually long-term, meeting on a regular basis (once a month), and involving “holy listening.” The emphasis is not on fixing, but rather listening/noticing the movement of the Holy Spirit through the telling of our stories/experiences. This is in contrast to pastoral care, which is usually temporary, often-times crisis-oriented, and may lead to referral to spiritual direction, groups such as grief groups, or counseling. A Spiritual Director (SD) may suggest different prayer methods and other ways of connecting with God (i.e. retreats, books, spiritual practices). A Spiritual Director accompanies others on their spiritual journeys (the Holy Spirit is the true director!).

Spiritual Directors can be either clergy or lay people. They receive special training for their work (there are a few places within Minnesota that offer training and certificates).

Ongoing work

This venture originated because Spiritual Directors, though highly regarded in the Diocese of Minnesota, have not formally been part of an organized group. Amassing names of spiritual directors within our diocese will serve many purposes: * Creation of a roster of spiritual directors

• Bring together Spiritual Directors (to get together, network, share ministries, support each other, etc.)

• Name the places that offer training for spiritual directors

• Lift the ministry of spiritual direction in the diocese (educate churches and parishioners on what SD is and who we are)

• Give clergy a list of names of spiritual directors for referral to others (after a clergy has seen someone in pastoral care, a referral may be made to a SD)

You are invited!

As noted above, efforts are underway to compile a roster of Spiritual Directors with the Diocese of Minnesota. We would like to hear from those who are trained as Spiritual Directors, those who may feel a call to this ministry, and those who may wish to engage in spiritual direction themselves. Please visit the spiritual direction blog. You may also leave notes and comments at this site.

What is Gospel-Based Discipleship and who is using it?

According to the Native American Ministries website of the Episcopal Church, Gospel-Based Discipleship (GBD) is neither a program nor Bible Study, but an encounter with the Gospel, designed to engage people with the Gospel appointed for the day, or the Sunday proper. It depends on participants being willing to share responses to the three questions: What words or ideas did you hear? What is Jesus (the Gospel) saying to you? What is Jesus (the Gospel) calling you to do? It may be used by any group. An experienced leader is not required. GBD may be used by a regular study group, to begin a meeting of a vestry or other group, as a form for worship, or as a personal devotion. Normally the appointed Gospel for the day is used.

The Gospel passage is normally read three times, each time from a different translation. Following each reading, one of the questions above is asked, eliciting personal reflection, sharing, and discussion. It is important for people to know there are no right or wrong answers. The group is seeking the truth by hearing what the Gospel says to them individually and corporately.

Starting a meeting with GBD grounds participants in the Scripture and focuses the energy of the group. It also is a good way to get people sharing with one another at a spiritual level. Normally a copy of the Scriptures remains on the table, or in the room, with the understanding that at any time during the meeting anyone may call for the reading of the Gospel again. This often helps refocus the group when it’s been distracted or conflicted.

Groups that use GBD regularly should expect to begin to see their call to mission differently. Some congregations use GBD as a way to focus on what God is calling them to do in their community. Spiritual friendship is another outcome of GBD. As people become familiar with the process and each other, spiritual journeys are shared and people know one another in a new way, not based merely on similar likes or dislikes, but as disciples on a journey together. The entire faith community encounters the Gospel as peers, whether ordained or non-ordained. This leads to a vision of the community gathered around the Scripture.

A number of congregations in the diocese are regularly engaged in GBD, and Diocesan Council (among other organizations) has been beginning its meetings with GBD for some time. Click here to read a talk from Diocesan Convention 2008 by the Rev. Paul Allick on the University Episcopal Center’s GBD experience.

Most of the material above has been adapted from the Gospel-Based Discipleship presentation at the Native American Ministries website here.