In late January we hosted our learning event focused on the Artform of Accompaniment. Brenna and Geoffrey reflect below on lessons and learnings from that event.Ìę

Trust the Process: A Journey of Connection and Transformation

This past January, a gathering took place at Augsburg University, marking the beginning of an extraordinary journey for our congregations. We embarked on a path to explore and embody the art of accompaniment, a journey aimed at not just knowing about the neighbor, actually knowing the neighbor, and unraveling a new way of being church in the world.

The Essence of Accompaniment

Accompaniment, the first of four art forms we dive into, challenges us to not just know about our neighbors but to actually really know them—to see their essence. This deep understanding is fundamental, setting the stage for the upcoming art forms of interpretation, discernment, and proclamation. Our learning event was more than an educational endeavor; it was an invitation to transform how we interact and perceive the people around us.

The Power of Practice

A pivotal aspect of our gathering was the emphasis on practicing accompaniment through one-to-ones. That’s when I really saw the importance of cultivating these connections and practice among ourselves.

During a lunchtime exercise, participants paired up with someone from a different congregation, someone they didn’t know, and then embark on a journey of discovering the essence of each other. The simple act of asking questions and just listening unveiled the profound impact of hearing and sharing stories. Returning from the exercise, the air was filled with laughter, smiles, and a sense of connection. This practice, as many reflected, was the highlight of the day, underscoring the simplicity and inspiration found in truly meeting someone new and authentically connecting.

Creating a New World Together

This event was not just about learning; it was about preparing to build a new world together. The question, “when my world and your world collide, what happens now?” captures the essence of our mission. We are preparing to step out of our comfort zones, to listen and share stories, to connect our narratives with those of our neighbors. This is the groundwork for a new world—a world as intended by God.

The overarching vision of our journey is rooted in the belief that we are created for connection. It’s our stories with those of our neighbors that we find the blueprint for this new world. Through connecting, listening, and truly hearing, we step into a realm of mutual understanding and empathy. This connection goes beyond mere interaction; it’s about engaging with stories on a deeper, heart level, being with and allowing the stories to move and transform us from within.

A Transformed Perspective

The learning event taught us that true connection involves more than just knowing each other’s stories; it’s about letting those stories resonate within us, altering our worldview, our thinking, and how we engage with the world. This process of connection with others, leaning into their story, and allowing it to transform our mind and heart is what prepares us to embrace a new perspective, living in a world that we’ve collectively reimagined.

As we continue on this journey, we continue leaning into the knowledge that our shared stories and connections are not just pathways to understanding but the very fabric of the new world we seek to create together

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Project Overview

RIH will continue helping congregations live into “placed-based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good” through two-year learning communities of twelve congregations. The first learning community runs July 2021 – July 2023 and the second learning community runs September 2023 – September 2025.

APPLICATION PROCESS

• Opens: January 24th, 2023.
• Application Opens: February 15th, 2023.
• Application Closes: April 20th, 2023.
• Invitations sent out to accepted congregations: Week of May 16th, 2023
• Congregations accept invitations: June 8th, 2023.
• Community starts: September 2023

Congregations who are a part of this learning community will develop and deepen the knowledge, skills, habits, and values to engage in this work of place-based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good through a method we call the Public Church Framework.

The Public Church Framework consists of four movements that guide us into more intentional relationships with our neighbor, scripture, our core beliefs, and God’s spirit as we seek to discern how our faith community is called to be and proclaim good news with and for our neighbors. It combines threads the church has historically kept separate – discipleship, outreach, relationships, justice, worship, biblical study, theological reflection, and prayer. The common denominator is the neighbor. We do these things for the sake of our neighbors.

Check out our to read more.

You can also go to our website at:ÌęÌęto read more stories about how congregations are exploring their call to be public church in their neighborhoods across the Twin Cities.

CONTACT US:

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Throughout this summer as we have gathered folks together around our work, the text from Ezekiel 47 continues to be a way to ground us before we begin. As our work shifts, taking time to remember these words re-grounds us in why public church matters through Ezekiel’s vision of God’s abundance.

Ezekiel’s Vision (Ezekiel 47:1–12, NRSV)

¹ÌęThen he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple towards the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.Ìę²ÌęThen he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate that faces towards the east;Ìęand the water was coming out on the south side.

³ÌęGoing on eastwards with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep.Ìę⁴ÌęAgain he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist.Ìę⁵ÌęAgain he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed.Ìę⁶ÌęHe said to me, ‘Mortal, have you seen this?’

Then he led me back along the bank of the river.Ìę⁷ÌęAs I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on one side and on the other.Ìę⁸ÌęHe said to me, ‘This water flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh.Ìę⁹ÌęWherever the river goes,Ìęevery living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes.Ìę¹⁰ÌęPeople will stand fishing beside the seaÌęfrom En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.Ìę¹¹ÌęBut its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.Ìę¹²ÌęOn the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.’

Ezekiel’s vision becomes an invitation to follow God’s jubilee as it flows into the world and and makes everything live where it flows. The Public Church Framework (below) provides faith communities with a way to do this, to become blessings for the entire land on which they are rooted rather than existing to serve their own purpose. We are Ezekiel, following the enigmatic divine tour guide along the river as we learn to see the breadth and depth of God’s love flowing away from the temple and into the world.

1. Accompaniment: Mortal, Have You Seen This? (vs. 1–6a)Ìę— The river flows out from the temple and towards the desolate places. We are called out of our temples and our comfort zones to follow this river and to stop and notice how wide and deep it becomes. As we hear our neighbors’ stories, we become aware of how God’s deep and wide love and mercy are at work in their lives. We learn to hear and see so that when we are asked this question – Mortal, have you seen this? – we can answer with a yes. Accompaniment is the practice of learning to see and hear God’s love bringing life to our world.
2. Interpretation: The Water Will Become Fresh (vs. 6b–8)Ìę— As the jubilee river flows it brings fresh water into salt water. This fresh water desalinates the salt water and makes it fresh. The jubilee water dwells in, with, and under the salt water and makes it able to support and create life. The same happens to us as the stream of God’s story flows into the streams of our stories and our neighbors’ stories. God’s story begins to dwell in, with, and under our stories and our realities. This brings hope to stories that were at one time hopeless. Interpretation is the practice of learning how God’s promises (the fresh water) change the way we look at suffering in our world (salt water) and how those sufferings change the way we look at God’s promises.
3. Discernment: Fishing and Spreading Nets (v. 9–11)—ÌęThe living water brings about diversity and abundance. The fishing is good along this riverside. We have now seen the fullness of this river and we now have some choices to make. Is it time to fish? Is it time to dry our nets? Is this a place to fish? Is this a place to gather salt? There is work to be done along this riverside and we are invited and equipped to do it. Discernment is the practice of learning to hear God’s call and to know when, where, how and why to act on that call.
4. Proclamation: Fruit for Food, Leaves for Healing (v. 12)Ìę—ÌęEzekiel walks the riverside and notices the trees on both sides of the river and the harvest they produce. The trees are growing fruit for food and leaves for healing. The gifts of these trees create a future for God’s people. These trees do not only produce seeds that ensure the future of the trees themselves, they produce leaves and fruit for the world. Proclamation is the practice of producing and presenting our world with our gifts for the sake of the world, not for the sake of our own propagation. Christian faith communities re-engage their neighborhoods with fruit for food and leaves for healing — gifts to be given away that create a future for God’s people.

God’s creative, life-giving, jubilee river flows out from the temple and into the world. Our call is not to dam up the river and keep it in the temple. Our call is not to expect our neighbors to come to the temple to experience the life giving water of the river. Our call is to follow the river as it deepens and widens and makes all things live. As we learn to do this — to see, to fish, to spread nets, to grow and harvest fruit for food and leaves for healing — we find ourselves in the midst of innovation. Of co-creating a future for God’s world with God and our neighbor along the riverside. People are not looking for the temple, but they surely are seeking what they can find at the riverside. They are looking for others who are eager to bring the fruit for food and the leaves for healing to their neighbors.

What would it look like for you to follow the river of God’s living water out into the neighborhood?Who are the guides that might accompany you on that journey?What might happen?Come join us and find out.

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In Discernment, the third artform of the Public Church Framework, we move into the space between our neighbors’ stories, God’s story, and our story. In this movement we learn how to listen for who God is calling us to be and what God is calling us to do in light of the present reality and God’s promises.

Why is it important?Ìę

Discernment is important because our neighbors’ realities matter, our realities matter, and because we believe God has something to say about all of this. God is actively and continually trying to teach us how to live an abundant life together.Ìę

The opportunities to practice discernment are abundant, ongoing, and mundane. Without intentionally, the moments of discernment might appear as simple decision making.Ìę Many people desire to live their lives with more intentionality: to make informed decisions about how they show up in community, how they steward their resources, how they participate in their families, neighborhoods, and societies. etc. We believe God calls us into a thriving, abundant life together and we believe God has uniquely gifted us and called each of us to participate in bringing that abundance into a lived reality for our neighbors. Discernment teaches us to be attentive to and responsive to that call and that good work.

What is it?

Discernment is a communal process of listening to God’s spirit for the next most faithful step forward.Ìę

It is a prayerful, communal practice of critically seeking to determine how to respond to opportunities God has placed before us. It is different from decision making. It involves an intentional process that includes listening to three threads: God’s Spirit, the neighbors’ reality, or demands, and your reality. These three threads have been the stories and themes that have emerged from practicing Accompaniment and Interpretation. Discernment is the movement where we take stock of what’s emerged and what we’re being called towards. Which must include a realistic assessment of our own realities. What gifts do we bring? What limitations do we have?

How does it fit with the other artforms?Ìę

It may be helpful to think about it in a metaphorical way.Ìę

Imagine that there are a variety of stories tangled into a web of thread. Accompaniment, the first artform, is the movement into the web, and then we tug on the thread that is the neighbors’ story. For this artform, we pay particular attention to our neighbors’ story. What is bringing life? What gets in the way of abundant life?

Then, in the next artform, interpretation, we tug on a different thread, God’s story, we spend time reflecting on the things we believe about who God is, what God does, and what God hopes for. We look at the two threads we’ve tugged on in relationship with one another. How does our neighbor’s story influence who we believe about who God is? And how does God’s story influence the way we hear our neighbor’s story?Ìę

Then discernment is returning our attention to the jumble of threads, looking for the places that the threads intersect. In returning to the jumble of threads, we also pay attention to the “Our Story” thread. What are our unique gifts and limitations? What are we good at? What is outside of our capacity right now? What might need to die in order for us to be a part of new life?ÌęÌę

What is happening at the jumble of threads, and what is our unique call in that intersecting place?

How do we do it?Ìę

The answer the the “How” question is entirely dependent on the strands of the stories, meaning it’s unique to you and your context. Like all of the artforms of the Public Church framework, it isn’t prescriptive, there is no formula. And this might be frustrating because it’s squishy, and there’s no checklist to mark things off. However, we can offer some resources to help guide your discernment.

Resources

Liturgy for Discernment:

an outline to guide an gathering time, from Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus by Mark Yaconelli

Reflection Questions:

• Where do we see death and resurrection in our neighborhood?

• Where are we hearing lamentation in our neighborhood?

• Have we been part of the problem? What do we need to confess? To whom? Where? How?

• Where and with whom do we sense the Holy Spirit pleading with us to linger, to pay more attention, to listen more closely?

• What questions do we still have? Where might we learn more about these questions or with whom do we need to visit?

• What are the passions and strengths of our faith community that seem to present themselves as assets in light of what we have seen and heard in our accompaniment and interpretation? (For example, space, people, finances, vision, relationships, etc.)

• If the gospel is good news, what is the good news that needs to be proclaimed in our neighborhood in order to liberate people from the bad news we have heard in the neighborhood?

• How are we equipped to proclaim this good news? How are we not?

• Given what we have seen and heard in our neighbors’ stories, God’s stories, and our stories – who is God calling us to be? What is God calling us to do? What might God be calling us to sacrifice or risk? How is God calling us to show up in this community?

Mix It Up

Discernment happens best when we move a little outside of our norms, here are a few practices to shake us up as we reflect on the questions above:Ìę

• Charades: take the prompt question, “What is God calling us to do? How is God calling us to be?” and respond in the form of charades. Pay particular attention to the energy.Ìę
• Dwelling: look backwards at the listening you’ve already done, through those experiences, where was there energy, what did it feel like in our bodies?Ìę

Example:

Congregational example from a previous learning community and their experience with discernment: “From Decision Making to Discernment”

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This winter was long. April felt like an extended March. There is a whole lot of beauty in the winter and the cold can be hard on our bodies. In the midst of the cold, snow and rain, the last week of April if one paid attention, the green began to emerge. The tulips that I planted last fall began to sprout and I could see bursts of green in the mixture of brown surrounding my house. I woke up to birds chirping out my

I am an amateur gardener who definitely has lots to learn, but continues to show up in March to plant my own seeds knowing that not all of them will survive. During this Easter season of new life and resurrection, I am trying to pay extra attention to what around me needs nourishing. Which seedlings need water, sunlight, more space or coffee grounds added to the soil? When my tomato seedlings grow too leggy, I adapt by replanting them so the stems are fully supported and the plant can focus on rooting down to allow it to rise up. When my broccoli seedlings are too leggy, after googling why that might be, I realize that they are too warm.Ìę In response, I make a shift so that they are no longer under the humidity dome. Each seedling needs something different in order to grow and eventually bear fruit.ÌęÌę

When it comes to seedlings, I have learned that little things are big things. Little shifts one day can impact the next and allow for major changes to happen – for new leaves to emerge while roots grow. This rings true for me too. Little changes open me up to something more too
 Closing my eyes when I take my first sip of coffee. Standing outside in the sunshine before sitting down for another meeting. Watching the birds in my front yard. A simple text from a friend that says “I have been thinking about you” or “Sending love”. The embrace of my partner. The playfulness of my eight year old cousin. If I pay attention and make space for them, the little things remind me who and whose I am. These little things invite me into a more authentic version of myself. Remembering my body. Remembering the breath that I breathe. Remembering that God is among me reminding me of God’s presence and love throughout my day, all the time, if I am paying attention.Ìę

What little things remind you of God’s love?Ìę

One thing that has made a big difference in how I show in the world with myself and in relationship with others is connecting to my own body. By grounding myself and connecting with my body, I am able to show up more authentically by being more aware of myself. This changes how I show up with others. I invite you to connect with your body through the reading or recording shared below.Ìę

Invitation to connect with your body:

I invite you to close your eyes. To sit in a comfortable position. To reach the crown of your head toward the ceiling or sky and plant your feet on the ground picking up all ten toes and placing them back intentionally on the ground. Feel the connection between you and whatever you are sitting on. Allow it to hold you and breathe.Ìę

Notice where you are clenching and try to release it. Your hands, your toes, your jaw. Are your shoulders up towards your ears? Scan your body. Where do you feel tension? Can you breathe into those places inviting space in? Can you listen to your breath? Knowing that your mind will wander and that is okay. Like a train, allow the thought to pass by and then come back to your breath. In and out. In and out.Ìę

After a few breath cycles, can you listen to what you hear within 5 feet of you? Then another 5 feet? Then another? Lastly, what is the furthest sound you can hear? Breathe in and out. When you are ready, blink your eyes open and ask yourself: What do you notice?

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One thing that is unique to our current Riverside Innovation Hub learning community is the opportunity to learn from people who have experienced this learning process before.Ìę In March, we hosted a panel conversation where six leaders, who were previously involved in the Riverside Innovation Hub, shared their wisdom, stories, and experiences of practicing Accompaniment in their neighborhoods with our current learning community. The panelists included Sheila Foster, Claire Kaiser, Lacy Tooker-Kirkevold, John Pedersen, Kaylie Johnson and Pr. Jen Rome. This first blog, of a three-part series, recaps some of the wisdom and practical next steps they shared.Ìę

If you’re a current member of our learning community, you can also find a recording of the entire conversation on our Google Site.ÌęÌę

Question and Answer:

The first question posedÌę to the panel was about listening;ÌęDo you have any great ideas on how to be a better listener? How do you stay in “listening mode” without jumping to “solution mode”?

Pastor Jen Rome kicked off the conversation by sharing that her team had a hard time getting started. Like many people, they felt unsure about striking up a conversation with a stranger in the neighborhood. They found they had an easier time having the conversations when they were scheduled in advance. They made a list of people or organizations they wanted to connect with in and around the Mac-Groveland neighborhood, and picked who would talk to each person or organization. Then each person reached out to schedule a one to one conversation. A few examples of people they talked with included people on the neighborhood council, the staff at the park next door, and owners of the local businesses. They held each other accountable by reflecting on what they heard from their one to ones at their next team meeting. She also said they kept practicing listening as a skill in other contexts. As they continued to listen in the neighborhood, they were also listening to each other more intentionally at their own meetings and in the other spaces they found themselves in.Ìę

Kaylie said that her congregation didn’t necessarily struggle with getting started, but they did find themselves wanting to jump toward solutions. After their team had done some listening in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, they met as a team to share what they heard. As they were sharing with each other, they found themselves wanting to jump towards coming up with solutions. They realized they needed to check each other on that, and say, “no we’re listening right now, no solution, no answers. It’s okay to sit in the discomfort of not knowing what’s going to happen.” It’s often difficult to hear someone’s bad news and receive it without suggesting solutions or coming up with ways to fix what we perceive as problems. Their team learned how to listen to the bad news without immediately jumping into action plans, or offering solutions that may have come from assumptions about the neighbor, rather than a deep knowing of the neighbor. Kaylie remarked that learning how to do that is “part of the process, and part of being a good listener.”Ìę

Claire added that it’s important to listen in the neighborhood during a variety of times. Since she’s moved out of the neighborhood, she’s now typically only there on Sunday mornings. One of the silver linings of COVID was that it pushed their team to have their meetings outside the building in their lawn space on the corner of St. Clair Ave and Prior. Their team experienced the neighborhood entirely differently at 4pm on a weekday than they did when they came to worship on Sunday morning. Families were out getting their kids home from the nearby elementary school. The park across the street was bustling with people playing sports. People were stopping by the neighborhood grocery store. It is important to notice the rhythms of the neighborhood, and be attentive to the ways people spend their time.

ÌęJohn resonated with what Pr. Jen had shared. He said, “It’s scary to jump into it, but you just have to jump in and practice it like anything else.” One thing that helped him overcome his fear was thinking about it as a “posture of curiosity.” He didn’t have to immediately strike up super deep conversations with strangers necessarily, he just had to continue to show up, pay attention, and have a posture of curiosity. When we show up with a posture of curiosity, questions and wonderings begin to flow, and we might even find ourselves asking strangers questions! For John, the more informal, less scheduled conversations were more comfortable. He shared from his multiple experiences practicing the Public Church Framework that sometimes people are eager to jump in,Ìę and other times people are apprehensive. He noticed that once we start listening to people and hearing stories, we’re enlivened and curious to keep listening. He affirmed the importance of practicing a posture of curiosity, because the more you practice, the more it becomes familiar, almost automatic.Ìę

Lacy added on saying, “once you learn these skills, you’ll be doing it regularly without even realizing it. And honestly even on top of doing this work in your congregations, in your contexts, it just makes us better humans.” They said, “I feel more connected to my community and feel like I can build stronger relationships because of having the skills to do the listening, but also always having that mindset of keeping my heart open for those conversations”

It was an absolute joy to hear the ways that our mentors have been transformed by practicing Accompaniment. Stay tuned to the blog to hear what else they had to share with our current learning community.

Here’s a few tips and tricks they shared, that you try out in your own Accompaniment Practice:Ìę

Tips and Tricks:Ìę

• Find a way to listen that works best for you:Ìę
  • Plan out your One to Ones: One to One Relational Meetings – RIH Instructional BlogÌę
  • Have A Question of the Day:Ìę Priya Parker, the author of The Art of Gathering, was interviewed on the Good Life Project Podcast, and recommended the list of of “36 Questions to Fall in Love” in the New York Times as good, thoughtful questions to deepen any conversation. Check out the list for question ideas:
• Show Up to a Listening Post with a Posture of Curiosity:
  • What’s a Listening Post? A place in your community where stories are shared and heard.Ìę
• Have some questions thought out in advance:Ìę
  • You can pick a set of questions for your whole team to carry with them into conversations. You could brainstorm them together or pull them from other lists of questions.
  • Check out the second page of One to One Handout for a list of thoughtful questions.Ìę
• Keep practicing!Ìę

The post How to Be a Good Listener: Advice from RIH Mentors appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

You can read more about this particular grant here.ÌęThese colleagues include folks from 11 other seminaries and universities who received a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment in 2017 that was part of Lilly’s inaugural Young Adult Initiative. After experimenting and learning for the past five years together in contexts across the country, we gathered to launch another five-year commitment to steward the evolving work emerging from partnerships with congregations, young adults and neighborhoods.Ìę We explored together where we have been, where we are going, how we have been changed and how we can continue to build connections with each other in this work around vocation and what it means to be called by God to this work.Ìę

The Riverside Innovation Hub at Augsburg will be focusing on how we support the spiritual lives of young adults through a multi-layered initiative centering young adult voices. There are many parts that will be life giving that will emerge in the months and years to come, but a couple in particular are gaining our attention and excitement.Ìę

Book Project:Ìę

In the next year, we’ll gather a group of young adults to share our hopes, dreams, and heartaches for the church. From this gathering, we’ll distill some key themes and stories for a group of young adults and thought leaders to co-author a book, likely something between a love letter and a call to action. During our time in Indy, we heard from the other hubs who are also in the process of figuring out how to share the stories and learnings from the first phase of the project. Some are writing academic books, others are publishing research, some are imagining ways of disseminating stories through digital media. It was great to learn from them about what they’re working on and dreaming up. I, Amanda, am excited that our vision for this book honors the sacred and prophetic stories of young adults, and I’m hopeful that these stories can be heard by the church in a way that opens us up to what God is calling us to do, and how God is calling us to be.Ìę

Public Church Collaborative:

Alongside the book project will be the creation of an online collaborative that uses the Public Church Framework to network and resource ministry leaders with a focus on co-creating with young adults to participate in liberation that is neighbor-centered and context specific. Throughout our three days, we gathered in small groups to explore the possibilities around learning management systems (LMS) and how they can be a tool to share out our learnings from the first phase while building community. Throughout the next year, we will be gathering key leaders from our past congregations to help design something innovative while consulting with organizations that have similar missions to engage the world beyond the church. This collaborative will become the primary infrastructure for sharing what we and others are learning related to vocational discernment in the public square for the common good. I, Ellen, am excited to explore and learn more about how an online collaborative could open up the opportunities to connect with folks doing similar work to them to grow and learn together in relationship with one another.ÌęI am looking forward to exploring the ways that this tool could be used to invite folks into new ways of being in community with each other.

One of the most exciting things about this gathering was the ability to collaborate with other institutions that areÌę exploring similar ways of engaging with young adults. Kristina and Ellen will be connecting more with one of those partners at a conference in late April. Stay tuned to find out more!

The post Our Indianapolis Adventure: Beginning A New Chapter appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

In the second artform of the Public Church Framework, Interpretation, we move into listening to God’s story and we spend time articulating our faith community’s core biblical and theological commitments.Ìę

How do we do it?

We’ve categorized interpretation into four different layers:

1. Identify the most important things we heard in accompaniment.
2. Identify our most important theological themes.
3. Connect what we heard in accompaniment with theological themes that are similar.
4. Ask ourselves how these theological themes help us understand what we heard in accompaniment and vice versa.

This blog post will focus on steps one and two, identifying the key themes from accompaniment and identifying the theological themes of our faith community.

1. Identify the most important things we heard in accompaniment.

• First, spend time as a team sharing about your experiences practicing accompaniment.
  • Who is our neighbor?
  • Who did you talk to? What did you hear?
  • How are our neighbors experiencing hope & joy?
  • How are our neighbors experiencing anxiety, fear and heartache?
  • What are our neighbors’ hopes, dreams and desires for our shared neighborhood?
  • Who cares about the things and people our faith community cares about?

• Second, what key themes are emerging as your team is sharing?

Additionally, it’s also possible that you are curious to hear from others in the neighborhood. We will continue to practice Accompaniment even as we’re adding in the next layer of the Public Church Framework, interpretation. Take note of any other people or places you want to hear from, and whose voices may be missing from the story.

2. Identify our most important theological themes.

There are two main questions we ask to help us begin to identify some of the theological themes that are most important to us.

What are some key components of the biblical narrative that shape our understanding of “God’s Story?”

What are our faith community’s core theological commitments?

For a variety of reasons, it may seem difficult to parse out your faith community’s theological themes or reflect on the biblical narrative. You may not want to make claims about what other people believe. You may feel like you don’t know the right words to talk about God. Your beliefs about who God is may be continuing to develop, deepen, change. For all of those reasons, and many more, this artform, Interpretation, may feel uncomfortable or scary.Ìę

Here are some additional sets of questions that break those two bigger questions down into smaller ones.Ìę

Additional Interpretation Reflection Questions

• What are some of your favorite bible stories?Ìę
• What are some of your favorite hymns or songs?Ìę
• What are some of your favorite names or images for God?
• What do this stories, songs, and names say about who God is and what God does?Ìę

• How is the Biblical Narrative used (or not used) in our faith community? Why?
• What are some songs, art pieces, poems, or readings that this community thinks is important?
• What are the narratives that our faith community gathers around?
• What do they reveal about who this community is, or who this community wants to be?

• What are some of the shared values and commitments that this faith community holds?
• What do the ministries of our church reveal about what we believe is important to God?
• What does our churches budget reveal about what we believe is important to God?

You could use things like Mentimeter, Jamboard, Google Docs, or post-it notes to gather responses to these questions.

Manna and Mercy

Another resource that we used to help us reflect on the biblical narrative wasÌęManna and Mercy,Ìęby Daniel Erlander.ÌęThis bookÌę a short summary of the narrative arc of the bible that highlights someÌę important themes, like God is relational, God is a God of abundance, God cares about justice.ÌęWhile each person and faith community in the project may have a different relationship with the Bible. And there may be a variety of ways that they use it (or don’t use it) in theirÌęcongregational life together, the Bible has been one of the primary sources in the Christian tradition and because of that it influences how people understand who God is and how God acts. It directly, or indirectly, shapes our “God Story.”

To learn more about this book, and other related resources, check out their website at.ÌęThis book and these questions are some ways to begin articulating who we believe God to be, and what we believe God does. There may be other ways to name these things as well! We’d love to hear from you if you’ve got other ways of naming your communities theological commitments.

What’s next?

After we’ve spent time reflection on the key themes of accompaniment, and we’ve begun to articulate our communities core theological beliefs, we begin to put those two in conversation with each other. First where do we see connections between them, and then second how do they help us understand each other.

The post The Artform of Interpretation appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

We are entering the season of Epiphany. This is the time in the church year when we celebrate the revelation, or epiphany, of Jesus to the nations. It is a celebration of the gift of Jesus becoming public and known to all. How might your congregation live into this spirit of Epiphany, seeking to celebrate the presence of Jesus in the public squares of our lives?

A local congregation’s ability to celebrate the presence of Jesus in the public square hinges on its ability to practice accompaniment with their neighbors. Although it might seem like a simple thing, it has actually proven to be incredibly intimidating.Ìę

We have seen many leaders and congregations struggle to initiate and sustain this practice of accompaniment beyond their church walls. There are many reasons why this happens.Ìę

• It’s scary to move into spaces and relationships that are new and unknown to us.Ìę
• It’s counterintuitive to encounter someone with the sole purpose of getting to know them rather than actively gaining something from them (i.e., a commitment to visit or join the church, information about what they want from the church, etc.).Ìę
• It feels unnatural because we don’t want to come across as pushy or too aggressive.Ìę
• It’s time consuming and none of us have extra time to do this intensive and slow work.
• It seems overwhelming and we don’t know where to start.

Accompaniment can be intimidating, but it has never been more necessary.

We were recently interviewed on the Rev. Adam Butler, one of the hosts, articulated the necessity of accompaniment this way:

“There seems to shift right now from ‘We won’t have churches anymore if we don’t get people in the building’ to ‘we won’t have churches anymore if we won’t go out of the building.’ And that is an anxiety producing thing to say. It feels like the opposite of what we’re supposed to be doing. But we can’t exist anymore as churches if we don’t have an outward focus.”

Pastor Butler nailed it. But we have to remember that we aren’t practicing accompaniment in order to ensure the church’s existence. We practice accompaniment because it is true to who God is, it is true to who we are as God’s creation, and it is how we honor our neighbors.Ìę

At the Riverside Innovation Hub we love Ezekiel’s vision of the river of life in Ezekiel 47.ÌęIn her commentary on this biblical text, claims the river in Ezekiel’s vision to be a metaphor for God’s jubilee. A jubilee that can only be proclaimed if it becomes specific in ending actual suffering. She says,Ìę

When one speaks of the jubilee, it is essential to have before one the concrete situation that one is experiencing: debts, poverty, unemployment, violence, discrimination, exclusion, conflicts, sorrow, dehumanizing consumerism, the lethargy of the churches. For the jubilee is the good news that supposedly puts an end to that reality of suffering and dehumanization. . . If we speak of jubilee in a generic sense, the injustice is hidden, and the jubilee loses its power and ceases to be jubilee.

It is plain and simple. We cannot proclaim the good news and jubilee of Jesus in the lives of our neighbors if we are unaware of their concrete situations and experiences.

But it’s scary and intimidating to do this work!

Yes, it is. We get that. We also know that it isn’t your neighbor that you fear but failure or “doing it incorrectly.” There are plenty of wrong ways to practice accompaniment, but there is no one right way. Use common sense, humility, and compassion and you will avoid most of the wrong ways. One resource we like to direct people to is published by the Episcopal Church. We especially like the list of sample questions to ask with neighbors and people who are not a part of your church.Ìę

But it’s counterintuitive to do this work just for the sake of getting to know people when what we really should be doing is trying to get them to join our church!

Yes and no. We believe this is actually the intuitive work we should all be doing. The church exists to speak and act the good news of Jesus into peoples’ lives. If we don’t know what their bad news is, then we won’t know how to speak the good news to them. Again, we cannot proclaim the good news and jubilee of Jesus in the lives of our neighbors if we are unaware of their concrete situations and experiences. This approach might feel weird because it isn’t the approach we’ve taken, BUT it’s the approach we should have been taking all along.

But we don’t want to come across as being pushy or aggressive. (whispered softly so the people in the booth next to us don’t hear)Ìę

If you stay humble and compassionate and make use of the One-to-One Relational Meeting guide, then I don’t think this will happen. People will experience you as being invested in them rather than invested in trying to sell them something. And – sometimes – our desire to not come across as pushy or aggressive leaves us coming across as aloof and uninterested.Ìę

But we don’t have the extra time to do this!

I hear ya! We are all spread so thin right now. But this work still needs to be done. So, what can you let go of in order to pick up this new work? I imagine there might be some models and tasks and duties and meetings occupying your congregation’s time that are outdated and no longer necessary. Maybe you can let go of some of these temporarily to make more time for accompaniment. And maybe you will realize that temporarily isn’t long enough! We are putting more time into maintaining institutions that a growing number of people do not find necessary and this is preventing us from putting time into learning how we might still proclaim the good news of Jesus into their lives.

But it’s so overwhelming and we have no idea where to start!

Here are some ideas:

1. Identify key institutions in your congregation’s neighborhood – a school, a coffee shop, a parks and recreation center, city hall, etc. – identify a key leader from each of these institutions and schedule a time to have a one-to-one relational meeting with them. At the end of the meeting, ask them who else they think you should meet with in the neighborhood.
2. Identify key individuals in your congregation’s neighborhood you think you should know – a principal, a local story-teller, that neighbor who volunteers for everything, the woman who always puts fresh tomatoes out on the curb for people to take during the summer, the elderly man who is always down at the community garden – and schedule a time to have a one-to-one relational meeting with them. At the end of the meeting, ask them who else they think you should meet with in the neighborhood.
3. Start with people you already know. Spend some time with folks you already know but might not know well. Ask if you could spend some time asking them some questions and getting to know who they are and what their hopes and dreams are for the neighborhood. These could be your neighbors, co-workers, barista, etc.
4. Identify some “listening posts” in your neighborhood. These are places where people are already gathering to discuss the issues that are most important to them. These could be coffee shops, dinner, cafes, or bars. They could be neighborhood association meetings or school board meetings. Find a way for members of your congregation to be present where these conversations are happening so you can listen to your neighbors express their hopes and dreams and concerns for their community.

These are just a few ideas of how you can begin this work. You can read more about accompaniment and find additional resources in The Artform of Accompaniment blog.

We all want to be known. We all want to have hope and good news spoken and enacted into our lives. If the church keeps sitting back waiting for people to enter our buildings, then I’m afraid we are giving up. People may not be coming back to our churches. If we believe we have something good to share with them, then we will need to find ways to encounter them where they live their lives and we will need to find ways to share that good news with them in those places.Ìę

This is not an act of desperation. This is how we live in a way that is true to who God is and true to who God has made us to be. Becoming public and practicing accompaniment aren’t last ditch efforts to save the church. They are exactly what God has made us for. Accompaniment is who we are!

The post Accompaniment is Who We Are (you got this!) appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

The following videos are recordings from a four-week Centered LifeÌęseries which was hosted by Jack Fortin, Senior Fellow of the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg University.

Fruit For Food and Leaves for Healing: A Faith for the Sake of the World

In the 47th chapter of the book of Ezekiel, we encounter a divine tour guide showing Ezekiel around the temple. There is water flowing from the temple towards the wilderness. It grows deeper and wider the further it flows from the temple. Eventually, this water – God’s abundant mercy – brings life to trees of all kinds who produce fruit for food and leaves for healing. In the following video series, Jeremy Myers and Kristina FrugĂ© guide you through the Christensen Center for Vocation’s Public Church Framework as a method for discerning personal and communal vocation in your particular locations as we all seek to produce the food and the healing our neighbors need.

VIDEOS

The Church’s Call into the Public Square

An introduction to the theological and theoretical reasons why we – as a church and as individuals – must show up in the public square for the sake of the common good, recorded on Wednesday, November 3rd.

The Call to Accompaniment & Interpretation

This video, recorded on Wednesday, November 10, is introduction to the first two artforms, accompaniment and interpretation, that inform the way we become a public church.

The Call to Discernment & Proclamation

This video, recorded on Wednesday, November 17, is an introduction to the next two artforms, Discernment and Proclamation, that shape the way we show up in the public square as co-collaborators with God and our neighbors.

Your Call into the Public Square

A conversation recorded on Wednesday, November 24Ìę on what the previous sessions mean for you personally as you seek to live out your Christian faith in the public square for the sake of your neighbor.

The post Fruit For Food and Leaves for Healing: A Faith for the Sake of the World [Video Collection] appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.