 |
| Alan Lightfoot, Sarah Beavon, Glenys Cadman, Nita Hodgett and Juliet Wriglesworth |
In May 2005, several people from across the circuit responded to an invitation printed on church newsletters to be part of a pilot Covenant Discipleship group. On June 2, 2005, seven people arrived at my manse to hear about the vision of Covenant Discipleship.
This vision had first been revealed to me in 2002 as I was undertaking research for a master's degree. I was completing work on the Early Methodist Class Meeting and discovered that a key person I needed to make contact with was David Lowes Watson. Dr Watson graciously gave of his time, first by e-mail and then by helping to secure an internship for me at Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee early in 2004. Among the many rich experiences of that time at Belmont, I was invited to meet with different Covenant Discipleship groups and interview individual members. This, alongside my literary research, convinced me of God's call on my life to help the British Methodist Church rediscover a place of mutual accountability for discipleship.
After that first meeting in Runcorn, the seven interested people agreed to meet on Mondays for one hour. I suggested that each member read through Gayle Turner Watson's Guide to Covenant Discipleship Groups. After the initial meeting, one person decided that she didn't feel able at that time to make the weekly commitment to the group. By the end of the summer, there were five of us who had met most weeks. We finalized our covenant early in September 2005. The biggest challenge we faced as the new Methodist year began was finding an evening that we could meet!
Once the evening was agreed on, we took turns leading each week. This continues to work well. Other challenges have included the Acts of Justice and a tension of trying to uphold the model of a one-hour checkpoint for discipleship. Unlike the United States, we generally don't have an extensive adult learning program. Once a month, we stayed an extra hour for Bible study. This hasn't been sustained, and I am continuing to wrestle with this alongside the dilemma of trying to find time for more adult learning in a busy circuit diary!
As a group, I believe that each of us has grown in our understanding of what it means to be a channel of God's grace. This has had an impact on us in our contribution to the life of the church. A key strength of our group is that we complement one another. We come with different outlooks on Christian discipleship and this has been enriching. We updated our covenant in June 2006. We are currently thinking about how we might encourage others in the Runcorn Circuit to join a group. After attending the Wesleyan Institute in Nashville in September, I am also considering whether to invite colleagues to join me in a clergy group. Watch this space!
••••
Return to Covenant Discipleship Qurterly (Winter 2007) Home Page
Text Only Version
|
