January 7, 2008
When the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan river, the Lord instructed Joshua to construct a stone memorial to commemorate the entrance of God’s people into the promised land. The stones were to be a sign of God’s gracious leading.
Western Theological Seminary has a new stone memorial on our campus as a sign commemorating the conclusion of the learning journey of six Journey Groups.
November 11-14, 2007 was the occasion of a Journey “Showcase Conference” in which all six Journey Groups (Lilly Endowment funded Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grant) gathered together to share their learning projects, to celebrate community, and to bring closure to their years of learning together.
Each group placed a stone as a symbol of their group experience. Each individual also placed a smaller stone on the memorial representing his or her individual learning journeys.
The six Journey Groups were:
- Missional Journey Group all had interest in Gospel and Our Culture Network and were originally church planters who wanted to work on cultivating missional communities.
- RCA Multicultural Journey Group all came from transitional churches that were discovering how to do church in a multicultural community.
- Emergent Journey Group delved into the definition of church in the emerging culture of today.
- Clergywomen Journey Group looked into the issues of clergy and self care and how the institution benefits when pastors are healthy.
- Kalamazoo Journey Group were pastors from the North side of Kalamazoo who wanted to help train their laity in ministry.
- Transition to Hope Journey Group were ministers who desired to minister to those in difficult or forced clergy exits.
Next time you are at Western Theological Seminary, take a look at this new stone memorial just north of Mulder Chapel. Know that these stones mean that learning has taken place among six Journey Groups over the last four years, out of a rich diversity of contexts and communities.
