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This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.     Well, here we are, number six of six. Did you notice it took more than six weeks to get through that? It would seem that life happens in the midst of our conversations, resources, ministries, and deadlines. Who would have thought? In our sometimes urgency to reconnect to the relationships that have waned, we neglect the ebb and flow of life. This is a gentle reminder that in ...

This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.         It certainly feels like we have been up, down, and all-around during the last couple of years.  Some relationships have been strengthened or made, but others have been diminished or torn apart. Our relationships with others seem to have mainly taken one of only two paths; made/strengthened or lost. While perhaps there were some who hovered on the edges, there appears to have...

 This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.     We’ve all heard the instructions from a whole line of folks including the airline attendant and the self-help guru, “Put your own oxygen mask on first.”  If you’re out of oxygen, energy, the desire to keep moving, it is not possible to walk with anyone else on any kind of journey, literal or figurative.  As hard as it is to admit we’ve disconnected from God and others, it’s ...

 This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.   RECONNECTING WITH GOD     “…but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  Isaiah 40:31 NRSV   In Wesley’s Explanatory Notes[1] concerning Isaiah 40:31, John Wesley reminds us of two things: Wait – That the LORD is relied upon. Renew – They shall grow ...

This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.   On the Way Back Together - part 2 of 6   This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.     Here we are, deep in what has become an extended liminal space; a space where we are on the threshold of what comes next, even when we aren’t sure what the “next” will become.  In 2003 Richard Rohr shared these thoughts on ...

This six-part series and additional resources are provided through the work of Iowa Conference Parish Development.   On the Way Back Together - part 1 of 6   Each faith community is different from what they were in March of 2020. Some have gained members and embraced a different look for worship and how they connect with their faith community. A number have lost members and wonder what tomorrow brings. Some would just really like for things to consistently be the same.  Yet others are somewhere ...