Category: Meanderings

Playing Through

Tips for The Way of Forgiveness – Fall 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

For those of you who have begun The Way of Forgiveness, we want to offer a few words of encouragement and counsel. The topic of forgiveness and reconciliation is deep and challenging, perhaps one of the very greatest challenges in our Christian walk. You may have noticed that we urge that no small group BEGIN their experience of Companions in Christ with this resource. A group needs to build a certain personal familiarity and trust in their relationships in order to give themselves fully to a subject as tender and vulnerable as forgiveness, whether participants are seeking to forgive or to be forgiven.

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Tips on Journaling – October 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

From Marjorie Thompson, Companions in Christ Spiritual Director

Many of our participants express reservations or outright resistance to the idea of keeping a daily journal. Yet journaling is a key part of the Companions experience, enabling each participant to track thoughts, insights, questions, feelings, and images that arise from the readings and reflective exercises each week. How can you, as a leader, encourage your group members to be open to this very fruitful discipline?

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Spiritual Direction 3 of 3 – September 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

From Marjorie Thompson, Companions in Christ Spiritual Director

For the last two months, we have been looking more closely at aspects of spiritual guidance or direction. In particular, we have discussed key elements of spiritual direction, the quality of a spiritual guidance conversation, and what to look for generally in a spiritual guide. But "generally" and "specifically" can make a world of difference!

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Spiritual Direction 2 of 3 – August 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

From Marjorie Thompson, Companions in Christ Spiritual Director

Last month we began to supplement our understanding of spiritual guidance by listing key elements of the guidance process, and looking at the kind of things we might talk about in such a relationship. We offered a concrete example of a spiritual direction conversation. Of course, no particular sample conversation can be normative. Each of us has different needs and styles, not to mention constantly changing life circumstances that will shape the issues, questions, and musings of faith we bring to any relationship of spiritual guidance

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Spiritual Direction 1 of 3 – July 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

From Marjorie Thompson, Companions in Christ Spiritual Director

The idea of spiritual guidance or direction is relatively new in the Protestant world. Some of our Companions in Christ groups have told us that they were particularly challenged by this final part of the 28-week resource. We would like to offer some additional perspectives on this dimension of Christian life in the next several email newsletters, along with further resources for exploration. Spiritual friendship and guidance are foundational to Christian life in community, and to our personal maturation in Christ. We want to do all we can to encourage greater understanding of this practice. Here is part of a chapter I wrote on the subject of individual spiritual direction (one-on-one) — in Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (published by Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995).

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Multiple Groups in the Congregation – May 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

ion Keeping multiple small groups going can be challenging. Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee has six Companions in Christ groups meeting in addition to their other ministry groups. Recruiting, publicizing, resourcing, and keeping good communication within and among all these groups can be difficult. And there is also the need to look ahead — what are the future needs of these groups, and what should be done now to prepare for the future? Here are some tips from Lynne Deming who serves as Belmont's Companions in Christ coordinator:

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Strengthening the Congregation’s Spiritual Life – 2001

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

How can I help my congregation become stronger spiritually? For the large church pastor or lay leader, this can be a particularly challenging question. The pastor of a large membership church (defined by some as over 300 in worship on Sundays) may have little personal contact with the members of the congregation. There simply isn't much time for one-on-one contact; and even a small group only reaches eight to twelve people. How can a pastor or lay leader help the congregation grow spiritually?

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Holy Listening – May 2002

Link: Companions in Christ | Tools & Tips.

Companions in Christ introduces us to spiritual practices and invites us to make them part of our daily lives. One of these practices is listening, or more specifically, holy listening. When we practice holy listening in the company of a friend or small group, we make ourselves fully present to the speaker. We listen with our ears, our hearts, and with that mysterious part of our being, our souls. Although the spoken words are important, what we see and do not see, what we sense and find absent, also informs us.

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