Strengthening Spiritual Formation and Development
The year 2004 was one of significant change at Trinity Parish, and the Grants program has shared with other departments the keen enthusiasm of a new rector’s leadership. Over the previous year, Grants staff had already begun to reexamine the focus of our funding in the Spiritual Formation emphasis. We have raised fundamental and challenging questions about the nature of the faith we nurture and the spiritual transformation entrusted to our care. We have taken to heart our new rector’s commitment to deeper engagement with the community and his encouragement of projects that offer spiritual hospitality to many who are beyond our traditional church membership. In view of the increasingly disturbing environment of biblical literalism and exclusivity among members of many Christian denominations in the United States, we recognize our responsibility to maintain the stance of radical openness, acceptance, and accessibility that characterized the ministry of Jesus. At a time when it may be tempting to turn our vision inward or to insist on our own version of the truth, we recognize that honest and loving response to God’s Spirit requires attentive inquiry into the essence of the life of faith, as this faith may be known in many cultural contexts. Such response also demands that we in the Church seek out relationships with individuals whose lives do not presently touch ours because we do not know them. We must continually recognize that the “earthen vessel” in which we hold our Christian faith is not the same vessel for everyone.
At Trinity Parish, we are uniquely positioned both geographically and socially to understand as few others can both the perils and the grace offered by the present religious climate. The events of September 11, 2001, shaped our particular experience dramatically. While recognizing the danger of religious fundamentalism in any faith tradition, we are increasingly aware of the interconnection and shared aspirations of all the world’s great religious traditions. In the life of the spirit, there is no place for arrogance or disdain towards other seekers. Our reading and conversations have led us to inquire deeply into the desirability of encouraging programs in Christian spiritual formation that incorporate the wisdom and religious practice of other ancient faith traditions. We have learned much about the desirability of encouraging spiritual formation projects in which the wisdom and practice of non-Christian faith traditions are used intentionally to enhance the Christian life of prayer and worship. We have also become aware that seekers who are now in their 20s and 30s have been formed in a cultural and social context that is significantly different from that of older church members. In particular, the emphasis on visual information and rapid communication has fundamentally altered traditional approaches to the spiritual life. In the Spiritual Formation emphasis, our attention has been drawn to the need for programs that welcome young adults in their own idiom and consciously engage their participation.
For many years, in spiritual conferences we organize, in programs we attend individually, and in projects we have funded, we have observed that most participants are middle-aged, economically advantaged, and white. This circumstance is not specific to the Episcopal Church, but is notable across many mainline denominations. It has become increasingly apparent that if our funding is to have the most significant impact, we must find ways to touch the lives of younger people who may presently have little or no knowledge of the Christian faith and who may not have reflected on their own journeys. At the same time, we must recognize that Christ is known in a whole world “lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not his.” We want to fund solid programs that are directed toward, or significantly include, people of a variety of ethnicities and people who are poor. It is simply a fact that most disadvantaged people do not benefit from formal opportunities for spiritual formation. Sensitivity to this reality must stir our compassion and our conscience and increase our dedication to making grants to spiritual development programs that are committed to transformation of the Church as a whole, as well as transformation of individuals. As grantmakers, we are challenged to fund strategic programs whose prognosis is excellent, while at the same time remaining sensitive to the need for flexibility and hands-on assistance to projects that focus on the emerging church. Our present challenge is to touch more effectively the lives of new populations.
The Episcopal Chaplaincy at the University of Minnesota, where Trinity currently has a grant, provides the opportunity to influence directly a population whose participation in the life of our Communion is crucial for the future of the Episcopal Church. As the spirituality of young adults becomes an increasing focus of attention in the Spiritual Formation emphasis, we are especially pleased with the work done at the UMinn chaplaincy with its programs of vocational discernment, its “Spiritual Survival Teas,” its diversity of liturgical opportunities that include many styles of prayer from Taizé to Sunday evening worship followed by free dinner. We especially commend their unusual intentional community that allows participants who live in common to pursue spiritual deepening. College chaplaincies can provide natural mentoring communities for maturing young adults, encouraging them to support their peers and to learn from the life experience of older adults. Once college is finished, however, and young adults find themselves in the world without a self-forming community, the challenges for spiritual formation and support of an emerging faith become greater. Trinity looks forward to supporting innovative programs that directly address this period of growth.
2005 PROGRAM EMPHASES
In 2005, the Grants Program will continue to fund
programs that strengthen spiritual formation and
development in the Episcopal Church. Trinity Parish
will invest in projects in which people of vision and
imagination have found substantial, specific ways
to deepen and enhance the spiritual lives of
Episcopalians. At the same time, we will be watching
closely for opportunities to support programs
that focus on the spiritual journeys of individuals
who would not traditionally be participants in our
grantees’ programs. While we seek projects that
are holistic and grounded in the essential Christian
spiritual tradition, we are also looking carefully for
the flexibility and openness that encourage the
grace of transformation among individuals of many
colors, ages, and economic settings. Such projects
demonstrate that spiritual formation takes place at
a level deeper than the intellectual and invites participation
from people of a variety of life experiences.
New programs will also be open to the relationship
between Christian faith and the wisdom
and practice of other major faith traditions, as well
as how we might be more effective instruments of
the divine invitation to seekers of any tradition or
none.
COHERENT CONGREGATIONAL SPIRITUALITY
Investments in congregations that are working
toward full appropriation of a matrix of formational
offerings, so that the contemplative life illuminates
and is reflected throughout the life of the parish.
Grantees must articulate a working theology of
spiritual formation (including both contemplative
and active components), present their institution’s
(congregation, diocese, spirituality center) “master
plan” of spiritual formation, explain how this plan
and theology are being imparted to staff and participants,
and demonstrate how it is reflected in the
specific programs for which funding is requested.
DEEP LEADERSHIP
Investments in innovative initiatives
by established spiritual training programs that
address the Church’s need to train leaders for spiritual
growth-centered congregations. Grantees
applying under this emphasis must articulate what
a leader and guide of a community’s spiritual
growth and maturation is and does, qualities to be
strengthened in spiritually authoritative “deep”
leaders, and formation methods used in their training
program.
EVANGELISM
Initiatives that attract “seekers”
(that is, those interested in spiritual formation and
development, but who are skeptical of traditional
forms of Christianity) to the Episcopal Church,
including innovative liturgical approaches to seeker
formation that incorporate modern technology to
interpret the Gospel in dynamic and culturally relevant
ways.
Spiritual Formation 2004 Grants
CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
Huntsville, AL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$90,000
Over three years to fund a one-half staff salary for the Holy Nativity Center
for Pilgrimage and Reconciliation.
LA IGLESIA EPISCOPAL DE LA RESURRECCIÓN
Mount Vernon, WA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$100,000
Over two years to fund staff for the Hispanic Ministry Spiritual Formation
Project at La Iglesia Episcopal de la Resurrección and St. Matthew's/San
Mateo churches in the Diocese of Olympia as a pilot project for Hispanic
spiritual formation.
SACRED DYING FOUNDATION
San Francisco, CA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$75,000
Over one year to develop and expand the Sacred Dying Vigil Program, a
project of the Sacred Dying Foundation.
THE COMMUNITY OF HOPE
Houston, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$90,000
Over three years to support the salary of one Field Coordinator who will
supervise Community of Hope program development.
THE UNIVERSITY EPISCOPAL CENTER
Minneapolis, MN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$87,324
Over three years to fund a portion of the salary of the Chaplain and the
Ministry Administrator.