Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Several years ago I was inspired by a wonderful Southern Baptist friend who could, at the drop of a hat, quote a relevant verse from the Bible, no matter the situation. I realized how few verses I knew by heart, so I became determined to memorize some scripture.

I started with an easy one – the 23rd Psalm - as my husband and I drove to a get-away weekend in the hills of southern Indiana. I had the psalm committed to memory by the time we made it to our charming rental cabin, positioned next to a pond. A rickety set of wooden stairs descended from the gravel drive, beckoning me to come closer to the still waters. I sat on the steps, listening and watching nature reveal the secrets of the ecosystem around me. I repeated the psalm, and meant every word of it.

God restored my soul in those moments. I could have driven home right then and felt as refreshed as the entire weekend was supposed to offer.

As a consultant with the Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF), I help congregations with projects for which volunteers are needed. Sometimes potential helpers are ruled out “because he is just really burned out right now,” or, “she says she can’t do one more thing until the rummage sale is over.”

I get it. Do-ers of the Word need some time to refresh along their busy way. Similarly, all worship and no action might prevent people from deepening their faith through service.

Congregational development author and consultant Robert A. Gallagher uses the “Renewal-Apostolate Cycle” as a model for examining how churches offer a balance of soul-restoration and active participation in Christ-centered service, evangelism and stewardship.

Gallagher says the Cycle “is a way of describing the Christian’s movement between being formed in Christ and the apostolate of daily life. It is also a way of describing the work of the parish church.” (Fill All Things: The Dynamics of Spirituality in the Parish Church, Robert A. Gallagher, 2008)

The renewal a church offers, writes Gallagher, is “renewal in baptismal identity and purpose in worship, study, the parish’s social life, and being equipped for Christian action.” (ibid.) When our church is renewing us, it is readying us to go out and do something in the name of Jesus Christ. Our “doing” might occur at/for our church or in our homes, jobs and civic activities.

The Renewal-Apostolate Cycle can be used to examine a congregation’s culture, and then to help shape it so that there is a healthy balance of building up and sending out. To me, this is a bit like the “Mary – Martha” balance. There’s no perfect or best model for the cycle. It is merely a tool for some great conversations and reflection about the “diversity of ways people live the cycle.” Gallagher writes:

In the church we are understandably cautious in any discussion about the end result we seek in formation. …Yet a parish, and each member, needs ways of talking about what the ‘new person’ in Christ looks like. 
…Having two or three ways of describing the kind of person being formed can help a parish offer language that may speak to different people while avoiding a tendency to literalism.” (ibid).

It has been several years since I sat on those steps by the secluded pond and felt my soul restored by those still waters. Where am I renewed today? Fortunately, one of the places is my church, especially during worship.

Where and how are you renewed? Is your parish included in the answer? How might your church be renewing other members in different ways, such as through prayer or compassionate action? When people are renewed, what do they do?

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