Dear Trinity Family,
Elected Spiritual Leaders. I had never heard this term before our March vestry retreat. At this gathering, Father Andrew Terry and Stephanie Townes from our diocesan mission amplification office repeatedly referred to a church’s vestry as the “elected spiritual leaders.” This phrase captured my imagination and prompted reflection on what spiritual servant leadership could look like for us as vestry members.
This mindset spurred a change to how we start vestry meetings. We now begin each meeting with a Contextual Bible Study of a passage from that day’s lectionary. Contextual Bible Study can take many forms but we’ve been using the style our diocesan facilitators led us in. This approach was modeled for us at the retreat and is now part of our practice. It’s intended to be both engaging and interactive, while also generating conversation and insights from participants.
How does it work? We all look at the same passage together. We choral read it together, then pause and reflect on phrases or words that stand out to us. We’ll share those aloud with each other. Then, we’ll preview a reflection question, rooted in the passage itself. For example, at our retreat it was “Where do you see God’s fruit in your life?” after reading an excerpt from Ephesians. With this new focus, we re-read and then take time to write and reflect on this question. Then, we share with a partner our reflections. After the partner-share, we go around the room and share a summary of what we heard from our partner. It’s interesting to hear themes emerge.
I have found this approach very helpful for anchoring us in a spiritual leadership mindset before we begin the official business of the agenda. It’s rooted in scripture, but also I have felt the Holy Spirit as I hear the faith stories from a partner or the group. Not only does it help us be in relationship with each other, it reveals all the ways we are in relationship with God. In turn, this helps us establish an approach for our vestry business through centering it on supporting the parish’s relationships with each other and with God.
Simply put, by taking intentional steps to have dialogue rooted in scripture, sharing the faith stories and reflections it inspires within us, we are better equipped to turn to the business of the church with a spiritual leadership mindset.
Thanks for allowing your vestry to serve Trinity as elected spiritual leaders. I look forward to sharing more with you on our work growing out of this approach in future monthly updates.
With gratitude,
