First Convocation

What:
First convocation of the C3 Initiative (Creating a Culture of Calling). St Charles is one of 24 Christian congregations involved in the project which seeks to "promote a congregational culture of vocation that helps Christians of all ages discover their callings throughout life and equips them to live their vocation in the church community, at home, and in the world."
 
The first convocation was held in Baltimore, April 4-6.

Who:
The project funded three members from St. Charles to attend: Jennifer Winslow, Mayra Torres, and Leif Kehrwald. Two other members of our C3 Core Team include Sherry Wagner and Gabe Triplett.
 
What We Learned:
Kathleen Cahalan, Catholic theologian and professor at St. John's School of Theology in Collegeville MN provided a strong theological foundation. These themes emerged from her book The Stories We Live: Finding God's Calling All Around Us (Eerdmanns, 2017).
We are called by God who is the source of all callings.
We are called to follow the way shown by Jesus and taken up by his disciples.
We are called as unique persons.
We are called from the losses and grief we suffer over time.
We are called to give our lives for others.
We are called in our deepest suffering to carry out God’s purposes.
We are called through the people in our lives.
We are called together to live within God’s loving embrace.
 
What We're Thinking for St. Charles: Some Preliminary Ideas
 

• Parish Theme on “Calling” - in the same way that this year's parish theme is "Compassionate Solidarity" we might propose that next year's theme be related to "Calling." Need to find just the right words/phrase.

 

• Two-year “curriculum” for GIFT Sundays - the material in Cahalan's book (The Stories We Live) provides foundational material for one or two years of GIFT curriculum topics.

 

• Utilize supplemental curriculum for children, youth, and adults - the C3 organizers intend to develop "calling" curriculum materials for these age groups. We would use them as an extension/continuation of our GIFT Sunday programs.

 

• Meld C3 Team and GIFT Team - it's possible that GIFT Sunday Sessions become the central piece of our C3 efforts. If that is the case we will merge the C3 Team with the GIFT Team.

 

• Make Team more multi-cultural - and we would seek to make the leadership team for C3 and GIFT more culturally integrated.

 

• Use C3 grant money to make GIFT fully multi-cultural - we will have $10,000 - $12,000 to use to support our C3 efforts. We can use at least some of that money to be more fully multicultural in our efforts. As an example, we might purchase simultaneous translation head sets.

 

• Infuse "Calling" into faith-sharing groups by inviting them to read/study Cahalan's book.

 
NOTE: these are preliminary ideas. Nothing has been decided yet. The C3 Team welcomes your suggestions.
 
What's Next:
The next C3 convocation is in late June. At that gathering, we will engage in an intentional strategic planning process.