by Jeannie Babb, Special to the Messenger
Ministry is not just for clergy anymore.
Introducing a series of short talks and café conversations, the Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander, dean of the School of Theology, declared that all baptized Christians are called to ministries that evolve over the course of a lifetime. The Beecken Center at the School of Theology is on a mission to equip all people to answer that call.
On April 9–11, dozens of ministers, students and others from 18 Episcopal dioceses and four other denominations gathered in Convocation Hall to share stories and explore ideas related to training opportunities for lay leadership.
Duncan Hilton, program director of the Leadership Development Initiative, asked, “When we take action in the world, it changes us. It changes the world. How do we become freer to act with love in the world?”
The Rev. John Tumwine, director of Theological Education by Extension Center in Kampala, Uganda, told the group how he sold his computer to buy a plane ticket to attend the conference.
“Fr. John was the one who told us we were thinking too small; communities on the other side of the world are longing for the same kinds of training we are beginning to offer. That was not my dream. That was a message that came to us —beyond anything we dared to ask or imagine,” said Courtney Cowart, director of the Beecken Center.
Other presenters included the Rev. Wayne Meisel of the Center for Faith and Service at McCormick Seminary; Joy Anderson of the Criterion Institute; the Rev. Kammy Young, director of contextual education at the School of Theology, presented “Be the Change Alabama,” a partnership that couples seminary training with community organizing; the Rev. Chris Keller, director of SUMMA debate camp; Karen Meridith and the Rev. John de Beer of Education for Ministry presented a preview of the new post-grad EfM curriculum “Essential Practices of Christian Disciples”; Jim Goodmann, director of VocationCARE; and Courtney Cowart, director of the Beecken Center, previewed “Living in the Green.”
Participants also included Church Publishing, Wild Goose Festival, Society for the Increase of Ministry, Episcopal Relief and Development, The Godly Play Foundation, DuBose Conference Center, Living Compass, Mountain T.O.P., Youth Ministry Architects and Otey Parish. Robin Gottfried, Nora Vinas, Dixon Myers and Jim Peterman represented the University.
St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School students Lachlan Hassman and Colburn Hassman, Kilmarnock, Va.; Vanessa Moss, Sylva, N.C.; Katie Mobley, Lexington, Tenn.; Meghan McPherson, Nashville, Tenn.; and Cooper Nickels, Manchester, Tenn., were also part of the gathering.
Anne Chenoweth, director of admissions and financial aid at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School, selected the students because of their leadership qualities and their interest in outreach.
“I wanted the wisdom of St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School students in the room. I believed it would vastly enrich everyone’s experience,” Cowart said.
“I loved the conversations,” said Nickels, a ninth-grade day student at SAS. “I met many interesting people, one of whom was Father John from Uganda.”
In closing, Regan Schutz of the Godly Play Foundation offered worship through a Godly Play session, encouraging participants to begin processing new ways of thinking introduced by the conference. However, the program did not end there.
Ripples from the conference continued to multiply, as ministry innovators shared ideas and synced with like minds. For Tumwine, this included new relationships with leaders at the School of Theology, Education for Ministry and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Tumwine’s new friends hosted a party in his honor, where children handed him a wrapped gift. Inside was a new laptop. But the Ugandan priest did not tear off the gold wrapping paper. Instead, he looked slowly from face to face, and he began to sing,
O Jesus, I have promised
To serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me,
My Master and my Friend….
(John E. Bode, 1868)
—Jeannie Babb is a writer who lives in Sewanee.
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