Mission Retreat Summary
The Rt. Rev. Stephen C. Scarlett
A retreat was held on September 28 and 29 at the Montserrat Jesuit Retreat Center in Lake Dallas, Texas. The theme of the retreat was: “An approach to mission based on the theology of the Remnant.” The retreat was attended by people from each of the G-3 churches as well as the APCK. Bishop Chad Jones of the APA co-organized the retreat with me and delivered a keynote presentation. Bishop Paul Hewett attended and represented Continuing Forward, which is the existing mission effort of the G-3 churches.
For several years now I’ve been advocating for a reorientation of our mission and ministry around a focus on spiritual formation. I’m convinced that a missionary future for our movement depends upon this reorientation. We began this reorientation at St. Matthew’s Church in Newport Beach, CA eight years ago. We established a long-term program for spiritual formation. This program has proven to be effective. It has grown from a parish program into a program of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity. We currently have 120 people from across the diocese participating in the four distinct stages of the program.
At the last ACC Provincial Synod, I gave two presentations outlining the contours of our program and invited interested clergy and lay people to join us in this work. My two talks were posted on the Continuing Forward blog. At the close of those talks, I informed those present that we were planning to hold a mission retreat in 2021. The arrival of Covid delayed it two full years.
In the months leading up to the retreat, we developed a contact list that consisted of all the people who responded to our invitation at the Synod and let us know they were interested in participating in this work. This group was invited to the retreat. There was no public announcement or advertisement of the retreat. Future retreats and events will not be publicized either. The Remnant approach is rooted in personal invitation. The Remnant approach does not try to convince the unwilling. As a teacher of mine said, “Jesus did not recruit volunteers. He said, ‘Follow me.’” This is a coalition-effort of those who have a conscious vocation to mission, have already been exercising that vocation, and are willing to do new things. This is not a critique of others who are doing mission work in another way and don’t want to participate. Far from excluding anyone, we have eagerly sought colleagues to build a new thing.
In advance of the retreat, I sent out an essay entitled, “An Introduction to the Remnant Approach to Mission” that explains the rationale for this reorientation.
At the retreat, four presentations were given, two each day. The first was a presentation from me on the practical points of creating a parish Remnant oriented towards mission. The second was by Bishop Chad Jones on the Remnant approach to parish ministry. The third was a collaboration of Fr. Mark Perkins, Fr. Hayden Butler, and Rachael Crews. Each discussed an aspect of the spiritual formation of children and youth. The fourth presentation by me was on the importance of considering spiritual gifts and local circumstances in Remnant formation and mission.
Interspersed between these presentations were reports given by each represented parish. We asked them to discuss the following four questions:
1. Briefly, what is the story of your parish’s or mission’s founding?
2. What are your current efforts at mission?
3. What are your current challenges to mission?
4. What, as a parish or mission leader, do you discern that your parish or mission is specifically called to do?
The reports were diverse and encouraging. We heard about good work being done by faithful priests and lay people in a variety of settings, opportunities, and challenges. We look forward to sharing with the broader G-3 more detailed reports on this work in future updates.
Each day of the retreat began with Morning Prayer and ended liturgically with Evening Prayer. There were excellent non-liturgical social gatherings in the evenings. There was a midday Mass each day. On Wednesday a votive Mass of the Holy Ghost, oriented toward mission, was offered. Thursday was the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Music for Mass and Evensong was supported in robust fashion by the many excellent lay and clerical voices present. It was a joy to sing and pray together as the foundation of our discussions.
We asked everyone present to join in the practice of praying and fasting for mission every Wednesday, a practice we have kept in the DHT for almost a decade. This discipline involves fasting in some way during the day and offering the Litany for Mission, ideally after the second fixed collect at Evening Prayer.
Pray the Litany for Mission here
The goal is to pray regularly for each parish or mission and to provide practical support—always respecting the authority of their bishop. We plan to follow up with a gathering at our next joint synods and to hold another retreat the year after the joint synods.
The feedback we have received about our retreat has all been positive. This was the best church gathering I’ve attended in recent memory. Others felt the same way. The tie that binds this Remnant group is love for Jesus Christ, a commitment to personal spiritual growth, and a desire to share our faith and its healing power with others—especially with those who are not now members of our churches.
This work is not focused on anger at the world or other churches, activist politics, or complaints about the barriers to mission. This movement is focused on cultivating a vibrant spiritual life in our parishes and missions and sharing that life with others; it is about a deliberate renewal of domestic mission. If you have a love for Jesus Christ, a commitment to your own life of prayer, and a desire to share your faith with others through our tradition, contact us and we will welcome you gladly into our collaborative work. We’ve planted a seed and will now work and pray and give to cultivate its growth.
Peace,
+Stephen