Christian Theological Seminary, in its role of administering the Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program, has awarded grants to 140 congregations located in 36 states to enable their pastors to step away from daily responsibilities for a period of reflection and renewal. Among those pastors is the Rev. Mary Ellen Ashcroft of Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church in Grand Marais.
The program provides pastors with time for travel and immersive experiences in different cultures, opportunities to participate in spiritual retreats and pilgrimages, and focused periods for writing and research about challenges facing Christian communities.
“Pastors play an indispensable role in guiding the work of congregations and the daily demands of leadership are unending,” said Dr. Christopher L. Coble, vice president for religion at the Endowment. “Lilly Endowment is pleased that this program enables hardworking pastors to step away briefly from their ministerial responsibilities for rest and renewal.”
Congregational leaders worked with their pastor to design their renewal program and to determine how their pastor would use the grant funds to replenish, restore and renew their pastor’s ministry. Travel to varied destinations and journeys into nature are popular activities for the participating pastors.
“We can think of no better way to honor these faithful men and women than to help them experience personal and spiritual renewal in ways that they themselves design and find meaningful,” Coble said. “We regularly hear that these renewal experiences are transformative for pastors, their families and their congregations.”
Beginning in late August 2015, Ashcroft said she will be traveling first to England to visit the Iona Community and connect with friends, and then to South Africa.
“In this last year I have been writing about my time living and working in the Anglican Church in South Africa from 1975-1982 and found resonance with my role as vicar at Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church. In South Africa I will travel from Durban to Cape Town over about two months, and while there I’ll be re-engaging with themes, connections and relationships which are relevant to Cook County as well as to church in South Africa.”
These include the interplay between physical landscape and commitment to place, worship styles that incorporate both the larger tradition and local sensibilities, the role of the arts in transforming individuals and community, building trust and hope through narrative, and the connection between a local congregation and the worldwide church, said Ashcroft.
“I will be visiting churches, activists, art studios, and doing some extensive hiking in wilderness areas. I hope to establish a sister relationship between a church in south Africa and Spirit of the Wilderness. I’ll be returning in mid-December.”
For more information contact Ashcroft at (218) 387-1536 or Windcradle@boreal.org
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