Roots

This is the Ferry approaching Swallow Tail Lighthouse, Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, Canada. Grand Manan is where I was born and where many of my family live. It's a small island with a population of around 3000 in the Bay of Fundy. My spiritual roots are there as well. Grand Manan is home to 3 Wesleyan Churches and at least another 10 churches of other denominations. The sea, the beaches, the wildlife and the views make it one of the world's special places.

Transitioning

Transitioning is an interesting term. When you think about, simply moving through life requires a lot of transitioning. We make adjustments all the time in the way we do things. We get smarter...we see things differently...we learn and we adjust. Why then is it so hard for a traditional church to 'transition'?

Lately I've been looking at some churches that are transitioning from their familiar Sunday School program to a more agressive ministry of small groups. They're not dropping Sunday School, but they are giving it a face lift and at the same time blending it with an offering of home groups, affinity groups and other creative gatherings. Some churches have re-launched their discipleship efforts with a new name, structure, purpose and goals.

Is your church transitioning? Are you looking for ways to improve the process of spiritual formation? Are you moving from just Sunday School to include more small groups? Have you done a complete overhaul of your discipleship programs? Do you need one?

Spiritual Retreats

This past weekend our Department, the Spiritual Formation Department of the Wesleyan Church, took a three day retreat at a wilderness resort in Ohio. It was a family retreat - encouraging us to spend time in family activities. Along with swimming, horse back riding and boating together, we wrapped up the weekend with our own chapel service by the lake and sharing communion together as a family.

What are your thoughts on Retreats ( some call them Advances rather than Retreats )? Do we do it enough? Have you been involved in any type of creative retreat?

We're working on the concept of a Weekend Retreat that would be an intense spiritual boost. We would spend time in worship, reflection, confession, meditation, teaching, etc. If anyone has been on a Jesus Walk or Emmaeus Walk Retreat or anything like that, I'd love to hear about your experience. Do you think the concept is needed in our churches? Districts?

-Tim

For some of you, this won't mean anything, and to others it will bring a smile. This is the old farm house that Gayla's father grew up in. It is also the site of our annual "Cousin's Camp". Every June the family comes together with all of the children and we have camp. We do all the 'camp' activities like games, crafts, swimming, devotions, etc. What makes Cousin's Camp special is that the children learn about their Christian heritage and of the prayer and faith that has gone before them. If you have other Cousin's Camp pictures that you would like for me to post for all to see, send them to guptillt@wesleyan.org

Spiritual Formation

I just got back in the office after 6 weeks of visiting District Conferences of the Wesleyan Church around the States ( we have 33 Districts in North America ). It was a fascinating experience to see the diversity of our people and our churches. One of my objectives was to talk to people about what they believe is important in the process of Spiritual Formation. We're seeing a shift in our denomination fromt the traditional Sunday School models to offering more small group options and other creative forms of discipleship. Is Sunday School working in your area? Are small groups working? What are people doing to become more like Christ?