Clergy
who attended a recent colloquy on Responses to September 11th are praising
it as a great opportunity to do what the founders of the Massachusetts
Conference intended – to confer.
The event began with worship and Bible study which led into small group
discussion. It also included panelists who spoke not on what churches
could or should do, but on what their own faith journey led them to
do.
“We were not providing answers, we were discerning together what it
meant to be a people of faith at this time,” said Susan Dickerman, Associate
Conference Minister for Leadership Development.
Evaluations from the 80 ministers who attended the colloquy, held October
30th at the First Congregational Church, UCC, of Shrewsbury, gave the
event high praise.
One pastor said she appreciated the opportunity for “sharing our struggles,
dilemmas, and most important our ideas for creative ministry.”
Another pastor said he had feared the event would be a “peace rally”
and was pleasantly surprised to find a “broad based model for how we
can enable our congregations to be ministering places in this time of
upheaval and fear and potential division.”
Dickerman said the same type of gathering, emphasizing Scripture, personal
faith stories and discussion, could be adapted by local congregations
when trying to make decisions such as defining a vision or reorganizing.
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