Faith
About this blog
Thinking the Faith, Praying the Faith, Living the Faith is written by the PC(USA) Office of Theology and Worship.
Thinking, praying, and living the faith is at the core of ministry in the Office of Theology and Worship. In the following videos, learn more about what thinking, praying, and living the faith means to the leadership of the Office of Theology and Worship. Discover why it matters and what difference it makes in our lives, work, and worship.
Charles Wiley
Barry Ensign-George
David Gambrell
Christine Hong
Karen Russell
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In Good Company
I’ve spent a good portion of the past two weeks in the company of…well, the Company of New Pastors. If you’re not familiar with the program, it’s really simple: beginning in the last year of seminary and continuing on for the first four years after graduation, participants are in mentored peer groups that covenant to practice the daily disciplines of the Company of Pastors (daily prayer, daily scripture reading, daily engagement with the Confessions). As part of this program, national gatherings of participants take place at various points in that five years. In the past two weeks, we’ve had two of these gatherings.
These two national gatherings represented the two spectrums of the program: one was a final gathering for folks who have spent the last five to six years as participants and mentors; the other was for seminary students who are just beginning the program as they begin to finish seminary. The difference in the two groups is marked, both in views of ministry and of the program. For many of those “graduating” from the program, Company of New Pastors has been a lifeline in the early years of their ministry. These not-so-new pastors tell stories of the support they have received from their covenant group, about the peace that comes from knowing they have a seasoned pastor on whom they can call, and about the nurture of their ministry that comes from a practice of daily prayer, daily scripture reading and regular theological reflection.
The seminary students are excited about finishing seminary and moving into full time ministry. They believe the disciplines of the program are beneficial to them, but don’t yet have stories to tell about the value of this program – but I believe they will.
The simplicity of Company of New Pastors belies the program’s influence on new pastors. The men and women at the final gathering were relatively speaking, still in the early stage of their pastoral life, but they exhibited qualities of loving, thoughtful, insightful and balanced pastors. In short, these are people I would like to emulate and hold up as examples and role models. One of the gifts of working with this program is that I get to meet these new pastors as they begin their pastoral life, in the first phase of their pastoral life, and hopefully, again as mentors for future groups.
What is impressive is the thread that runs through all stages of this program: disciplines that take us into scripture, lead us into prayer and engage us in reflecting on the faith, all with an eye toward living a faithful life and leading others into these same disciplines. Pretty good lifeline, I think.
- Posted at 1:58 p.m.
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