Over the next six weeks, members of the DCOH leadership team will write reflections of gratitude on six areas of ministry we have been given over the past twelve years, four years as a PEARUSA Network and eight years as the Diocese of Christ Our Hope. At the end of each reflection, we will pivot to look toward how that same ministry will be lived out in the next season of our life. We have much to celebrate, and much to anticipate! We could have easily picked any number from a dozen or more ministries. We could have had dozens of leaders write the stories. But we think you’ll agree that these particular ministries paint a broad-stroke picture of how the Lord has blessed us. We hope you will rejoice with us, and we hope you will look ahead with us. To God be the glory, great things he has done! Great things he will do!
Remember Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz? For some of us, the screenplay may bring back a fond (or scary) memory of a “movie night at home”. Back in the 1980’s, major networks (for unknown reasons) aired it every Easter Sunday night. Our family would gather to watch. Exhausted by all the work and celebration of Resurrection Day and stuffed from an abundant Easter dinner, our younger children were sugar-dizzy from the freedom to “eat as much Easter candy as you want this afternoon.” They were also frightened by this strange tale, which perhaps isn’t a children’s story at all.
Forty years ago, few movies could be seen on television. So why this one? I am still mystified by the power the story had. I know the desire to find our way home. Don’t we all know that? But only as I have thought about it through the years, have I realized that Dorothy’s three companions needed the same three things we need to find our way to God: The scarecrow needed a brain, the lion, courage; and the tin man, a heart. Jesus is the way and he is the only one that can take us to the Father. As we walk with him these three things are fundamental. We need wisdom and knowledge, a large dose of courage, and a heart.
Participating in God’s kingdom work requires these same three things. Yes, we can “do ministry,” build churches, grow a diocese, and develop leaders by our knowledge and courage—but without hearts transformed to truly resemble Jesus, we will never find our way or participate together in work that looks like Christ and brings God glory.
But hearts are tricky things. They deceive us. They are vulnerable. Some of us operate so well without them that we scarcely know they are missing. The well-worn truism of training folks for ministry is to develop the head, the hands, and the heart is really true. But how can a diocese address issues of the heart?
First, I rejoice that our diocese knows the heart is essential for training godly clergy and laity. And in the Diocese of Christ our Hope, we are indeed pursuing the training of our hearts.
It’s tricky to praise my own husband without sounding like I am boasting. But I married a man 52 years ago who wanted to be true to God from the heart. Christ had so gripped his soul with mercy that he knew he had to be transformed deeply to have anything to offer. Knowledge, skills, gifting, energy, drive—none of it could make up for a heart that operated out of wounding and that wounded others. Christ longs to offer his life to the world through the hearts of his servants. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, it is the love of Christ--not the command or expectation or strategy of Christ -- that controlled him and gave him a compelling motive. It is the same with us, enduring ministry flows from hearts transformed by the presence and love of Jesus.
In his kindness to us at Christ our Hope, as staff joined us, they too knew the necessity of living from the heart. Take a moment and consider the resources we have been given: Canon Ben Bowman’s commitment to healing ministries, Dcn. Teresa Kincaid’s beginning our prayer ministry that Rev’s Brian Morgan and Barbara Murray now lead, spiritual life retreats for those discerning a call to ordained ministry, convocations before synod that have focused on biblical exposition, real issues, and a commitment to the life of the heart. As our bishops meet with our confirmands they emphasize catechesis, not simply as a knowledge of Christian truth, but as a catechesis of the heart.
But perhaps the biggest catalyst to the growth of ministry from the heart arrived with Canon Jeff Bailey. He saw the goodness of having ordinands and aspirants in spiritual direction. He knew from his own story that the formation of the heart was essential in a life of ministry. So he began a practice of having each ordinand meet seven times with a spiritual director. If the ordinands could not cover that cost, the diocese would help them.
Our prayer for our clergy is that each one of them would have regular meetings with a spiritual director. An hour every month or so is a respite place to simply be with God in quiet, to be comforted, strengthened, and guided by his voice.
Canon Jeff knew it wasn’t enough to tell folks they needed to find a director, he wanted us to become a diocese that trained directors – and not just for our diocese. That desire fits the charism of generosity that God has graced us with. But the question was how could we help train directors? Did we need to develop a training program?
Prayer and discernment over the course of 2020-2021 led us to form an informal partnership with Leadership Transformation’s Selah’s Certification Program in Spiritual Direction. Together with LTI and Dr. Sue Currie (who along with her husband, Dave, are clergy in our diocese), we became the host for a new cohort within Selah’s certificate program in spiritual direction.
We start our fourth two-year cohort in Spring 2025, and it has been a gift. Interns, both men and women, lay and clergy, are coming to us from the DCOH plus ten other ACNA dioceses. We pray for the involvement of even more dioceses. It is a great weaving of people who share the same longing to accompany people as they seek God with their whole lives.
From Selah Anglican has flowed a resource on our website that lists Anglican directors from across the province. You can check it out here. It is a great resource for our Province: few dioceses have a training program for spiritual directors or a simple way to find a director.
Nancy Crowell, a Selah Grad, and member of All Saints Durham, has taken the lead in vetting the directors on our website and in offering a lunch at each synod convocation for the directors in our diocese and those interested in training to gather and be encouraged by each other.
Moving into what lies ahead-- + Alan has a commitment to offering rectors in our diocese a good on-ramp toward experiencing and finding a spiritual director. In every deanery, a clergy care person is the first touch place for clergy people to stay in heart connection with God. In addition, Rev. Brian Campbell is working to give our clergy access to clergy care groups for men and for women. These groups have grown from a deep passion that Rev. Geoff Chapman, formerly the rector of Sewickley Church (Diocese of Pittsburgh) has carried. He was convinced that clergy (and their spouses) needed soul-care communities. Now across our diocese and the ACNA, small groups gather online to be vulnerable and accountable as they listen to God, to themselves, and to each other. In support of our bishops’ commitment to ensure our clergy are cared for pastorally, Brian+ and Deacon Ashley Davis are supporting the Deanery Clergy Care Coordinators and stepping in, as needed, to provide direct care for DCOH clergy. They also will continue to regularly keep Bishop Alan and his team aware of the needs of clergy throughout the Diocese.
The wise words of Proverbs 4:23, “Watch over your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow all the issues of life,” are life-giving words. I am so thankful for the work of our Diocese in helping our people—clergy and lay -- learn to live this Jesus life from well-guarded and well-tended hearts.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Sally Breedlove
Wife to +Steve
Associate Director of Selah-Anglican
