Central Plains Mennonite Conference
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Central Plains Structure
    • Staff >
      • Executive Conference Minister
      • Ministerial Leadership
      • Formation Minister
      • Hispanic Ministries
    • Map of Conference
    • Congregations >
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Minnesota
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • Board
    • Committees >
      • Christian Formation
      • Outreach and Service >
        • Church Planting
        • Peace and Justice Task Group
        • Practicing Offering and Receiving Hospitality
      • Pastoral Leadership
    • Partners in Mission >
      • Agape Peace Center
      • Philip Friesen
    • Camps & Schools
    • Who are the Mennonites?
  • CPMC at Work
    • MC USA Delegate Resources
    • Publications >
      • Scattered Seeds
      • The Sower
    • Events >
      • Annual Meeting 2022
      • Annual Leaders Retreat 2022
    • CPMC Covenant
    • New Ministries Fund >
      • Reports of Past Grant Recipients
    • Counsel on variance
  • Congregational Leaders
    • Pastors
    • Elders & Deacons
    • Church Council
    • Support for Conflict >
      • Facilitation Services and Donations
    • Pastor Openings
  • Mission Leaders
    • Racism webinar videos
    • Ecuador/Venezuela Partnership >
      • Latest News from Ecuador/Venezuela
      • Story of the Ecuador Partnership >
        • Timeline & Resources
      • Personnel and Partnership Members >
        • Ross Richers
        • Wigginton Bravo
      • Quito Property Fund
    • Church Planting >
      • Developing Congregations
    • Travel Like Dave
    • Missional Discipleship Initiative
    • Islam and the Gospel
  • Formation Leaders
    • Formation in Worship
    • Formation Resource Library
    • Children and Families >
      • Faith at Home
      • Curriculum for Children
      • Shine
      • Resources for Parents
      • Protecting Children
    • Youth >
      • Youth Mission Together
      • Youth Sponsors
      • Youth Curriculum
      • Youth SS Teachers
      • Mentor Coordinator
      • CO Resources
      • Helpful sites for YM
    • Adults >
      • Adult Faith at Home
      • Adult Curriculum
      • Teaching resources
      • Adult Spirituality
    • Shalom Readers
    • Curriculum Evaluation Tool
  • Resources
    • Anti Racism Resources
    • Bible study Webinars >
      • Bible Study Webinars 2016
      • Bible Study Webinars 2017
    • Conference Documents
    • Christian Discernment
    • En Espanol
    • Immigration
    • Mennonite Links
    • Spiritual Deliverance
    • Archives
  • Contact Us
    • Contact form
    • Church contact info form
    • Donate
    • COVID Relief
    • Discerning Future Leaders
    • Sunday Speaking Information Sheet

​Covenant of Spiritual Practices Reflection 1: Our Deep Spiritual Longings

8/25/2017

 
Picture
by David Boshart

​At Central Plains Annual Meeting in June, I shared a meal with our speaker, Meghan Good. Meghan talked about how interesting it is to speak in all kinds of settings across the Mennonite Church and how different each context is. I couldn’t resist asking, “So, Meghan, given me the down and dirty analysis of what you see that is unique in our conference.”

Without hesitating she said, “It is very clear that these people really like each other and want to be together.” Then she added, “I also see signs that there is a spiritual hunger here that isn’t apparent everywhere I go.” 

Music to a conference minister’s ears!!

One year after adopting “Being God’s Faithful People: A Covenant of Spiritual Practices,” we checked in with representatives of our congregations to hear about their experiences with our new way of thinking about our relationship.
           
We asked participants at table groups to tell a story of when they felt:
  • God’s unqualified love for you
  • submitted to God’s purposes for you
  • transformed into the likeness of Jesus,
  • the power of the Holy Spirit moving in your life
           
As participants began to tell their stories, the depth of the sharing was palpable in the room. Halfway through the allotted time, we observed one table holding hands in prayer. Here and there, tears were falling. People listened sensitively with compassion.
           
After this time of sharing, we asked participants, What deep longings for transformation do you hear from God through these stories? It wasn’t until reading the written feedback from these table groups, that I fully understood what Meghan was perceiving.
        
A new level of spiritual hunger is rising in our conference.
           
Participants expressed a deep longing to relinquish control so they could more fully experience God’s leading in their lives.

That is a remarkable contrast to the longings that we commonly associate with a society that worships individual freedom and self-determination. While they may not know how it comes to be, these people shared some pretty clear ideas of what it looks like when is spiritual transformation is happening. For example, they think their faith communities (local and regional) would be places marked by unity and compassion. They would also have a confidence that they can be trusted to discern God’s will together.
        
Our people are longing for these experiences in our life together.
           
Spiritual transformation is not something we can manufacture or program to happen. But we can cultivate certain behaviors that prepare us for transformation. These behaviors have less to do with programs and structures. They have more to do with orienting our hearts and paying attention to our spiritual hungers.

           
We orient our hearts to God’s leading through spiritual availability, stillness, mindfulness,
being more than doing, presence more than program. Having surveyed unpredictable upheaval going on in the world, the Psalmist tells us to “be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
           
In the stillness and mindfulness, we give ourselves to important questions that our world will never pose for us. “What God is doing in this situation?” “What questions might Jesus be posing to us in this moment?” “How might the Spirit be calling us to give ourselves completely, in faith, to do what Jesus would do?”

           
However spiritual transformation comes about, as we cultivate practices that make us available to God’s presence in our lives,   
    we will grow in our ability to discern God’s will,
    our life together will be marked by unity and compassion,
    and the life we share will have us all looking more and more like Jesus.

May it be so!
           
Next week, I’ll share another reflection on what we heard from table groups at Annual Meeting 2017. 


Christopher Montgomery
8/25/2017 12:08:13 pm

The conference covenant of spiritual practices is definitely influencing our congregational approach to missional engagement in a variety of ways, extending our understanding of community beyond our walls and into our neighborhoods. I'm grateful to be part of this conference.


Comments are closed.

    Central Plains Mennonite Conference

    creates settings for our congregations and partners to grow in holistic witness to God's reconciling mission by developing leadership, encouraging fellowship and promoting lifelong discipleship.

    Archives

    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

Office Manager: P.O. Box 101, Freeman, SD 57029  office@centralplainsmc.org  phone: 605-929-3325
Ministry Staff Office: P.O. Box 352, Kalona, IA 52247
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Central Plains Structure
    • Staff >
      • Executive Conference Minister
      • Ministerial Leadership
      • Formation Minister
      • Hispanic Ministries
    • Map of Conference
    • Congregations >
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Minnesota
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • Board
    • Committees >
      • Christian Formation
      • Outreach and Service >
        • Church Planting
        • Peace and Justice Task Group
        • Practicing Offering and Receiving Hospitality
      • Pastoral Leadership
    • Partners in Mission >
      • Agape Peace Center
      • Philip Friesen
    • Camps & Schools
    • Who are the Mennonites?
  • CPMC at Work
    • MC USA Delegate Resources
    • Publications >
      • Scattered Seeds
      • The Sower
    • Events >
      • Annual Meeting 2022
      • Annual Leaders Retreat 2022
    • CPMC Covenant
    • New Ministries Fund >
      • Reports of Past Grant Recipients
    • Counsel on variance
  • Congregational Leaders
    • Pastors
    • Elders & Deacons
    • Church Council
    • Support for Conflict >
      • Facilitation Services and Donations
    • Pastor Openings
  • Mission Leaders
    • Racism webinar videos
    • Ecuador/Venezuela Partnership >
      • Latest News from Ecuador/Venezuela
      • Story of the Ecuador Partnership >
        • Timeline & Resources
      • Personnel and Partnership Members >
        • Ross Richers
        • Wigginton Bravo
      • Quito Property Fund
    • Church Planting >
      • Developing Congregations
    • Travel Like Dave
    • Missional Discipleship Initiative
    • Islam and the Gospel
  • Formation Leaders
    • Formation in Worship
    • Formation Resource Library
    • Children and Families >
      • Faith at Home
      • Curriculum for Children
      • Shine
      • Resources for Parents
      • Protecting Children
    • Youth >
      • Youth Mission Together
      • Youth Sponsors
      • Youth Curriculum
      • Youth SS Teachers
      • Mentor Coordinator
      • CO Resources
      • Helpful sites for YM
    • Adults >
      • Adult Faith at Home
      • Adult Curriculum
      • Teaching resources
      • Adult Spirituality
    • Shalom Readers
    • Curriculum Evaluation Tool
  • Resources
    • Anti Racism Resources
    • Bible study Webinars >
      • Bible Study Webinars 2016
      • Bible Study Webinars 2017
    • Conference Documents
    • Christian Discernment
    • En Espanol
    • Immigration
    • Mennonite Links
    • Spiritual Deliverance
    • Archives
  • Contact Us
    • Contact form
    • Church contact info form
    • Donate
    • COVID Relief
    • Discerning Future Leaders
    • Sunday Speaking Information Sheet