A Introductory Circle of Trust® Retreat

designed for Clergy of the Kentucky Annual Conference

Spring, Summer and Fall 2010

The soul is generous: it takes in the needs of the world.  The soul is wise: it suffers without shutting down.  The soul is hopeful: it engages the world in ways that keep opening our hearts.  The soul is creative: it finds its way between realities that might defeat us and fantasies that are mere escapes.  All we need to do is bring down the wall that separates us from our souls and deprives the world of the soul’s regenerative powers.
              Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life

Over the past decade under the guidance of Parker J. Palmer, highly skilled facilitators across the country have created a unique retreat-based approach to renewing personal identity, professional integrity and vocational vitality.  This approach is now being offered to clergy in the Kentucky Annual Conference through grants made available through the Center for Courage and Renewal, Lilly Endowment, Inc. and, the Spiritual Formation Team of the Board of Ordained Ministry.

All clergy are invited to apply to participate in one of the introductory retreats: 

Why a Courage to Lead program for clergy leaders?

Courage to Lead has been carefully designed to invite clergy to move beyond the “what” and “how” questions of leadership to the “who” questions.  It is rooted in the belief that effective service and leadership flow from the identity and integrity of the person, and focuses on how we listen to ourselves, and to each other, in communal spaces that invite the voice of the soul to be heard.

Courage to Lead work is framed by such questions as, “How can I maintain a strong connection between who I am and what I do?” “What practices will help me align my soul and my role?” “When pulled in so many directions, how can I remember myself and stay connected to the heart and soul of my vocation?”

What is a Courage to Lead Retreat?

Each Courage to Lead retreat consists of a cohort of 25 clergy leaders who gather for three days at one of the Kentucky Annual Conference retreat centers. In large-group, small-group and solitary settings, we will share our inner journeys via personal story-telling, poetry and reflection on scripture (lectio divina)  Guided by skilled facilitators, participants will be invited to speak honestly about their lives and work to listen and respond to each other—and to themselves—with encouragement and compassion.

Courage to Lead retreats support spiritual formation by providing opportunity for:

• renewing heart, mind, and spirit by exploring the inner landscape of the leader’s life;
• reconnecting personal identity and professional integrity, honoring gifts and acknowledging the power of limits;
• creating a community of mutual respect and caring that welcomes the soul and honors diversity;
• participating in the Clearness Committee discernment process and deepening skills to ask open and honest questions;
• developing trustworthy space for inner exploration among diverse theological perspectives; and
• exploring connections between the leader’s inner life and the renewal of congregational life.

Who participates in Courage to Lead retreats? 

Clergy from across the Kentucky Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church are encouraged to participate in the Courage to Lead retreats. Clergy selected to participate in the Courage to Lead program will represent the diversity of the Annual Conference.  The Courage to Lead program grows from personal and professional renewal work within and across the fields of education, philanthropy, law, health, nonprofit and civic endeavors. Participation will not only energize and inform leadership in clergy; it will help to rekindle and sustain authentic work and calling.

  A “first time” opportunity!

The 2010 Kentucky Annual Conference Courage to Lead Introductory retreats represent the first time for this offering in the Kentucky Conference of The United Methodist Church.  In fact, because of a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment to the Center for Courage and Renewal, the Kentucky Conference will be one of only 17 similar offerings to clergy throughout the United States.

 RETREAT LEADERSHIP—Rev. Marjorie Thompson

 Marjorie is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA. She received her Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Swarthmore College, and her Master of Divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary. Following a post-graduate pastoral internship, she became a Research Fellow at Yale Divinity School where she studied Christian spirituality with Henri Nouwen and did independent research in ecumenical traditions of prayer.

Before moving to the Nashville area, Ms. Thompson served the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, Connecticut, as Associate Pastor for education and small group life. For the first ten years in Nashville, she developed a ministry in spiritual formation comprised of teaching, writing, retreat work, and spiritual guidance.

Marjorie has served as adjunct faculty for several seminaries, including McCormick, Auburn, Wesley, and Vanderbilt Divinity School. She has taught in The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation, and directed the foundational program for Stillpoint (Programs in Spiritual Direction and Contemplative Prayer) in Nashville.

Her first book, Family, the Forming Center, published by The Upper Room in 1989, was reprinted in a revised and expanded edition in 1996. Her Second book, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life, was published by Westminster/John Knox Press in 1995. Her writings have also appeared in Weavings, Worship, The Upper Room Disciplines, The Abingdon Preacher's Annual, and, A Reader’s Companion to Crossing the Threshold of Hope: Sixteen Writers on the Pastoral Writings of Pope John Paul II.

In 1996, Marjorie took a full-time position with The Upper Room as Director of the Pathways Center for Spiritual Leadership, which is now called Pathways for Congregational Spirituality. She has served as chief architect of a major new resource in congregational spiritual formation (for small groups) called Companions in Christ. Marjorie has subsequently authored articles for other volumes in the Companions series, entitled “The Way of Forgiveness” and “The Way of Blessedness, The Way of Grace, and “Exploring the Way”.

Marjorie has be trained as a national facilitator through the Center for Courage & Renewal and has participated as a consultant and observer to the Lilly Endowment supported Courage To Lead project She is a widely sought retreat leader, teacher, and speaker in the area of Christian spirituality.

Marjorie enjoys hiking, creative cuisine, music, and watercolor painting when time allows. She and her husband John live in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, with John’s mother and two cats.

LOCATION AND COST

March 10-12, 2010  @ Loucon Camping and Retreat Center, Leitchfield, Kentucky  (Southwestern Kentucky)

August 2-4, 2010 @ Kavanaugh Life Enrichment Center, Crestwood, Kentucky (Central Northern Kentucky)

November 3-5, 2010 @ Aldersgate Camp and Retreat Center, Ravenna, Kentucky (Eastern Kentucky)

Space is limited to 25 participants for each retreat and programs typically fill well before deadline.

The participant fee is $100 per retreat.

Registration deadline is January 15, 2010

To assure participation, please apply early.   Applications may be obtained online at kyumc.org or by contacting the Ministerial Services office at bom@kyumc.org or 1-800-530-7236 ext. 308.