Learning about leadership in the Episcopal Church

I recently attended a session of the College for Congregational Development (CCD) sponsored by the Diocese of Maryland. Rev. Barb and Rosalinda Ibañez-Memba also attended.

I had only an inkling of what this experience would be. I imagined it would expand my knowledge of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It did. I hoped to learn some common language shared by leadership in our Church. It did. I expected I would meet some people that loved God and the Episcopal Church. Boy, did I.

In the large group, I was surprised by the breadth of the tools that the faculty team taught us. For instance, learning about navigating cultural differences was eye-opening. In fact, I learned why some cross-cultural interactions in my past did not go well! I hope to use this learning in my church life and in my outside of church life in the future.

We had breakout small group sessions. Our group included nine people. The three of us were a little surprised to find some things that we didn’t realize about our congregation and how we are situated within our local community. We also received confirmation from our self-evaluation and the input of others that there are many things that St. Peter’s does pretty well.

I was amazed by the depth of feelings I experienced. As the week went by and we got to know our other group members more personally and a lot about their congregations, I felt that we grew close in our work and between ourselves. At several points during the week, I felt moved to tears about the spiritual intimacy that grew.

The physical setting of the conference was at the Claggett Center in Maryland. I hope you get the chance to visit there. It’s beautiful and wild. One evening, we took a short walking tour of the center led by the executive director, Reverend Mark Wastler. In addition to being an Episcopal priest, he is a farmer and is knowledgeable and passionate about creation care.

One day I walked down the side of a (slightly steep) hill to experience the family graveyard there. While walking, I heard the song of and Eastern Wood-Pewee. It was an unfamiliar song to me, but my trusty bird app helped me to figure out what it was. On my way back up the hill I saw some deer in the middle of a field (more familiar to me.)

You will see some sermons and Adult Forums coming up that were generated by the learning we received and the work we did at CCD. I think it’s exciting stuff and can’t wait to share!