The Ministry Collaborative Podcast: Highlights from Our First Year
Pilgrimage Formation Curator Ryan Bonfiglio talks with the Revs. Amy Miracle (Broad Street Presbyterian, Columbus, OH), Melanie Marsh (Riviera Presbyterian, Miami, FL), and Miriam Mauritzen (Mountain View Mennonite, Kalispell, MT) about their experience of Glacier National Park provided an opportunities for rest, spiritual rejuvenation, and...
One of my favorite moments in TMC’s immersion experience to Glacier National Park is the evening we spend stargazing at Logan Pass. Surrounded by mountains and miles removed from any ambient light, you are blanketed with darkness. Upon the pitch-black canvas of the night sky,...
For me, one of the most striking images of the Civil Rights movement is the photograph below. It's from the march from Selma to Montgomery, March 1965. On the far left is Martin Luther King, Jr. and on the far right is Rabbi Abraham Heschel, one of...
In part two of this round table conversation, the Ministry Collaborative program staff (Adam Mixon, Ryan Bonfiglio, Jennifer Watley Maxell, Adam Borneman, and Mark Ramsey) talk about the importance of wilderness, the problem of making assumptions, and puncturing our bubbles of invincibility....
In part one of this round table conversation, the Ministry Collaborative program staff (Adam Mixon, Ryan Bonfiglio, Jennifer Watley Maxell, Adam Borneman, and Mark Ramsey) talk about orientation, disorientation, and reorientation, and the critical role that they have in different parts of our lives and...
Pilgrimage Formation Curator Ryan Bonfiglio shares his reflections on our theologies of deathlessness, the difference between recharging and resurrecting, and what an unrecognizable transformation might mean for us. This writing originally appeared on our blog....
If you were to ask someone from the 1st or 2nd c. CE what they thought the church needed to be talking about, I’m pretty sure they would say “the resurrection.” It’s front and center in Paul’s letters. It is there in the church’s first creeds...
The Ministry Collaborative program staff (Mark Ramsey, Adam Mixon, Ryan Bonfiglio, Adam Borneman, and Jennifer Watley Maxell) talk about engaging our ministry leaders, Bonhoeffer's Black Jesus, and finding new ways to measure the impact of the gospel in our communities....
In recent weeks, my colleagues and I have been writing about what conversations pastors and their congregations need to be having right now. High on that list for me is what it means to pursue shared leadership between clergy and laity. Exodus 18 offers a powerful...
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I was the Facilitator for the first New York City cohort, and at the time, I was working in theological education on Christian leadership formation, so it seemed like a natural fit. What I discovered, though, was something quite different from my “day job.” While the content and topics of the curriculum was a crucial part of our gatherings, it was the community of mutual care and support that made the content relevant, not the other way around. And second, having three years of strong bonding created an extraordinarily resilient community that, in turn, was able to build up resilience in our leaders. I think every member of my cohort went through significant seasons of both joy and heartache, professionally and vocationally, during our time. And the cohort, in turn, lived out the exhortation of Romans 12:15, “rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep,” with a depth and integrity that I have rarely experienced, and often doing both in the same gathering. It was a privilege and a blessing to me and my own faith and ministry to be their facilitator, and I am eternally grateful to the Ministry Collaborative for calling me to that work!”
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was unique to my particular situation. It was needed, appreciated and healing. It was affirming. Most valuable was the unspoken understanding of what we all were facing in our ministry context. There was a sense that we could finish each other’s sentences. Solidarity and empathy.”
Graduation Date:
May 23, 2021
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was unique to my particular situation. It was needed, appreciated and healing. It was affirming. Most valuable was the unspoken understanding of what we all were facing in our ministry context. There was a sense that we could finish each other’s sentences. Solidarity and empathy.”
Graduation Date:
May 23, 2021
“I truly looked forward to this every week. The discussion topics, activities, and small group conversations were all very rich and meaningful. This experience gave me space to reflect on what’s happening right now in my congregation and community. It helped me to think about what might be next in my own ministry. It offered some very concrete ways I might work on equipping leaders in my congregation. I really enjoyed meeting colleagues from different places, denominations, and contexts–and learning from their experiences and reflections. I also appreciated hearing further conversation and reinforcement in the podcasts.”
Graduation Date:
July 14, 2021
“The experience was, in one word, enriching. It was timely as well. I was at a critical point in my own ministry and this literally breathed life back into me. The time went by so fast that I didn’t even realize two months had passed. To be able to share that type of camaraderie with other preachers, and realize that my struggles are not isolated, was liberating.”
Graduation Date:
March 18, 2021
“It was great to find confirmation and affirmation of my ministry through the voices of other pastors. I particularly enjoyed the focused time on talking about each of us as individuals and pastors, and not so much on what our churches look like.”
Graduation Date:
January 31st, 2020