The spiritual practices of the Way of Love can form, equip, and strengthen us to Live Local and Join God.
When St. Andrew’s, Harrington Park became a Going Local congregation five years ago, they had no idea that conversations about hopes and dreams for their community would eventually led to the creation of a local farmers market.
After the departure of the Rev. Ginny Dinsmore and Suzanne Willian in September, the Rev. Deacon Deborah R. Drake and Merica Gellerman, both long-time participants in the Congregational Journey, have stepped forward to serve as its co-conveners.
Drake has been involved in the Congregational Journey from its earliest days.
In October, St. Michael’s began a nine-week study of the Nine Fruits of the Spirit using the core practices of our diocesan Going Local journey, which lead us to listen to God, one another and join God in our neighborhoods.
The Congregational Team of Going Local held a workshop on October 20 at Church of the Messiah in Chester.
Perseverance, courage, and hope in the face of challenges was the theme of the “Stories from the Journey Continued” gathering held on February 24 at St. Michael’s, Wayne.
Building on the energy generated at our Annual Diocesan Convention in January and its theme of Stories from the Journey, teams and individuals from 16 congregations gathered to listen and share stories. Through a mix of dwelling in scripture, videos, storytelling, and small group discussion, the gathering expressed both the challenge and the hope in being God’s people at this time.
Believing that God is inviting us into a new way of living together, on March 4, 2017 several congregations began a three-month period of listening and attending to what God is up to in our congregations, our neighborhoods and ourselves. On Saturday, June 3, 2017 we came together to reflect, share stories, and identify next steps on the journey.
On Saturday, October 28, 2017 we continue our journey of discerning what God is up to and begin to think about simple experiments to test our discernment.
Ginger McArthur was part of the team that got St. Peter’s, Livingston started in the Going Local process in March 2015, but by that summer she had encountered a challenge that dampened her initial enthusiasm. “We were ‘dwelling’ on the same passage of Luke every time, and I didn’t get the point,” she said, referring to “Dwelling in the Word,” a practice in which a group focuses on the same passage of scripture for a period of time, to allow it to unfold itself to them.
On Saturday, March 4, 125 individuals representing 43 congregations attended the kick-off gathering for the three-month “Listening Excursion” announced at Convention in January. After a busy four hours they went home with tangible first steps for introducing simple practices into the life of their congregations that will help them listen to God, each other and their neighbors.
Acting on a promise made at Diocesan Convention, last June four teams of clergy and lay leaders developed innovative experiments to help the diocese find new ways to do Jesus’ work in a rapidly changing world. The Going Local guiding team for St. Andrew's, Harrington Park was so intrigued by one of these experiments – using portable “Dream Boards” at churches and public places to enable people to post their dreams, hopes and visions for their congregation and their community – that they decided to try it.
