Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise. Isaiah 43:18-21
Below is a quick guide to Dunbar Deepening.
How did we come into being and what have we done?
In August 2005 Rev. Michelle invited eight people to commit to a two year process of visioning together to focus on Christian Spiritual Development. It was a challenge to discern how Dunbar might do Christian Education differently.
We have met together. We have gotten to know each other and eaten together. We have spent time experiencing different Christian spiritual practices including Divine Reading, guided meditation, Centering Prayer, Holy Listening and breath meditations. Early on Michelle gave us an historical overview of Christianity from the time of the earliest Christian communities.
We have also explored what other churches are doing. Several of us have attended educational events such as the Epiphany Explorations in Victoria, Children in Worship at VST, the Douglas Hall lecture series on 'what Christianity is not' and an informal consultation on youth and young adult ministries.
We were led in an exploration of organizational culture and we discussed how we saw Dunbar Heights' culture and tried to identify how it has been changing over the last few years. We looked at aspects of ourselves that we valued and others that we did not like so much.
We also drew up a covenant--a statement of intent with God as our witness. Key elements included:
"Seeking to be led by the Spirit and surprised by grace in all our deliberations;" and
"Seeking to focus our attention on Christian Formation for all ages--asking what is Christian formation, and how is it nurtured within a congregation?"
The following areas have leapt out at us as fundamental to Christian Spiritual formation:
Bible Literacy; Hospitality (welcoming ministry); Christian Spiritual Practices; Learning through Liturgy; Small Group Ministry and Lay Leadership Development including Spiritual Gifts Inventory.
Our reading, conversations with other churches and discernment have shown that the work of "deepening" Christians will potentially impact on other ministries in the church including music, worship, outreach and even our governance model. That means we will need to be conversation with others as well.
For more information about programs of prayer and healing, click here.
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