This month I’m sharing some of what the Leadership Council discerned at our November meeting and excitedly getting ready for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that starts January 18th.
Many thanks to those of you who prayed for our recent Leadership Council meeting in Chicago, which was a wonderfully Spirit-led time together. In addition to doing the important and necessary governance work required of a non-profit Board, we were also able to reflect on what we’ve learned over the past two years and identify some strategic priorities for the next 1-2 years. I’ll share in more detail in our annual report which will be coming out at the beginning of 2025, but here are a few highlights:
Looking back, we’ve grown in our shared understanding of what “missional ecumenism” (or “unity” or “oneness”) is, how to articulate it, and how it shapes our commitments and activities. In the process, we’ve learned how to host encounters across difference, and that those are unique but also repeatable experiences that we can offer to the larger ecumenical work of the Church. And we’ve learned that local chapters are the key structure, both for helping more people have opportunities for encounter (leading to friendship) across difference and for growing the number of people who are connected to and served by The Initiative.
Looking forward, here are some of the priorities we identified:
- Identify and produce resources that better help our commitment to “pray daily.”
- Continue to refine and develop the structure of Initiative chapters and use the annual gathering to expand the number of chapters.
- Refine the Guiding Principles booklet and work with John Armstrong to revise his Unity Factor book as the “core text” of The Initiative.
- Intentionally develop a process for outreach to members and “friends of The Initiative” under 40.
- Explore new ways to create more sustainable funding for the long-term future.
- Create a “Discerning Unity” experience as part of our gatherings, using group spiritual direction to help folks understand their own ecumenical calling or the ecumenical work of the Spirit in their context.
It’s my hope and prayer that your own life in growing oneness with Jesus and his followers will be enriched by what we’re learning and working on – whether you’re a covenant member, financial or prayer partner, friend, or someone who just reads these updates.
I also hope that you’ll prayerfully consider how you might want to deepen your connection to The Initiative: joining a chapter in your area (or helping launch one!), attending our gathering in June (see below), hosting a one-day or weekend unity encounter in your church or in your community, praying during the January “Week of Prayer” (also below) and throughout the year, or giving an end-of-year or ongoing monthly donation to help continue that learning and experimenting. To the end that the love of Christ would exceed our differences and division!
Resource of the Month? In December, it’s always the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:
Beginning more than a century ago and taking place between January 18th and 25th, these eight days offer Christians from various traditions the opportunity to come together across our divisions to pray together. This commitment to pray is at the core of The Initiative, and the week is becoming an anchor point for our chapters around the country as they form.
This year’s theme, liturgies, and prayer guides were developed to honor the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, which followers of Jesus have been reciting together for centuries. The Scripture text is John 11:26. The planners of theme have explained it in this beautiful paragraph:
“If faith can raise the dead and conquer all fear, surely faith will bring us the miracle of unity as Christians. Remembering that division, separation and rejection are symptoms of sin, the healing of the Church comes about in the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray knowing to whom it is we pray, as one community. God wills us to reconcile. God wills us to love one another. God will give those who profess the faith of Martha, of Nicaea and of all the holy ones who have gone before us, the precious gift of unity.”
| One of the first ways to get involved in the week is to join us on Zoom this Monday December 16th at 8:00pm to pray for the Week of Prayer. And we already have information for four prayer services taking place (with more to follow in next month’s update). Put it in your calendar if it’s near you:
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Save the dates on your calendar and plan to join us for these three days in suburban Chicago (very close to O’Hare) in June. Don’t let cost be a barrier; we’re committed to helping you be there!
One of my (perhaps odd) Advent practices this year has been to listen back through the catalogue of Mark Heard, a too-soon-, too-long-ago-gone singer/songwriter whose music profoundly impacted me in and shortly after college. In particular in these dark Advent days, I’ve been hanging on to some lyrics from Dry Bones Dance: “Every now and then I seem to dream these dreams where the dead ones live and the hurt ones heal; Touching that miraculous circumstance where the blind ones see and the dry bones dance.”
Thanks to each of you for your prayers, partnership, friendship and commitment to walking in Jesus’ way of unity. May your Advent dreams touch those miraculous circumstances too!
Yours in Christ’s Love,
Scott Brill
Executive Director
