LifeCycles: Christian Transformation in Community

LifeCycles has been a vehicle at St. Paul & St. James for the formation of adults since 2002. It is a process of ongoing spiritual formation within a ministering community. It is a way for adults to deepen their faith, discover and use their gifts in ministry and be transformed by Christ. Each session in the initial three cycles is set within a liturgical framework, engages group members’ personal experience and explores scripture, prayer forms and spiritual practices.

Congregations and dioceses join the LifeCycles community and are encouraged to participate in the use and ongoing development of materials, networks, and resources. Annual memberships in LifeCycles are available to congregations and dioceses.

The development of LifeCycles has been a collaborative effort of the dioceses of Northern Michigan, Nevada, Wyoming, and the seven dioceses of New England through the Harvesters Partnership. It began as a way for Northern Michigan to update its ministry development curriculum and has itself been transformed into an offering of Christian formation for the whole Episcopal Church. Initial development of LifeCycles was supported by a grant from the Roanridge Trust administered by the Congregational Development Unit of the Episcopal Church Center.

To put your name on the mailing list go to www.LeaderResources.org. Other contacts are Kevin Thew Forrester, Diocese of Northern Michigan, 906-228-7160; and Linda L. Grenz, LeaderResources, 413-582-1860.

A Brief History

The LifeCycles process of ministry formation has grown out of the experience of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. Almost twenty years ago, the diocese began supporting congregations as they identified, called, and formed members of their faith community locally to take full responsibility for their own ministry. The diocese believes that every congregation is endowed by the Spirit with all gifts necessary to flourish. Those called came to form a Mutual Ministry Support Team: collaborating to nurture and develop the ministry of all baptized members of the congregation. After a time of preparation, the entire team was commissioned (and, those called to Orders, ordained) in the context of a Celebration of Baptismal Ministry of the entire congregation.

People from across the country and around the world were drawn to the simplicity, the empowerment of baptized persons, and the renewal of congregations inherent in this process. Responding to many requests, the diocese decided to revise its curriculum. After several years of work within the diocese, developmental partners were invited to join the writing team, bringing a wealth of experience from many quarters. The development of LifeCycles became a collaborative effort of the dioceses of Northern Michigan, Nevada, Wyoming, the seven dioceses of New England through the Harvesters Partnership, and LeaderResources as editor and publisher. What began as a way for Northern Michigan to update its ministry development curriculum has itself been transformed into the offering of a Christian formation process for the whole church. LifeCycles is formational. It can and should be tailored to meet your needs. It is published and distributed electronically to make this task easier.

The LifeCycles Community

LifeCycles is a community of learners, learning and growing together. Individually, they learn from and support each other; but the group as a whole grows in faith, in its ability to work together and live as a community called to “restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 855). They also participate in a larger, global learning community, since the ongoing life of LifeCycles is fostered by groups learning from one other as they share gifts and skills. Groups will vary, responding to the needs of the local congregation or diocese. The assumption is that most groups will be either adult education groups or involved in some form of local mutual ministry process (often including local ordination) initiated by their diocese.

The materials offer a way (not the way) for the group to gather, and a focus for study. The process is designed to help group members learn information and skills as well as build relationships that support group members in their ministries as they deepen their spiritual lives. The group is a ministering community, and part of a larger ministering community (a congregation, a diocese, etc.). Each group member has a ministry through baptism, and needs to be supported in their ministry and challenged to learn and grow.

While this process is designed to occur locally, it is expected that networks, regional groups and perhaps national conferences will emerge to support the local LifeCycles groups.

The Structure of LifeCycles

LifeCycles is designed to start with the first unit: Encountering Our Story. After completing this unit, each group works through the remaining five units in each cycle in any order. Each cycle has six units; each unit, six sessions, for a total of 36 sessions per cycle. Since this process is designed to be ongoing, groups take anywhere from a year to two years or more to complete each cycle.

Each session is built around a core outline with extra resources provided for most sessions. This list of resources will grow over time as participants contribute suggestions. These additional materials can be used:

- To explore a topic at greater depth

- To provide different and/or more complex materials to explore the same content and skills when repeating or extending a unit or cycle

- To extend the length of sessions

- To provide different or additional perspectives, learning styles, methods, etc.

- To provide some ideas to jump-start the creative process for groups developing their own activities

LifeCycles is not a linear “curriculum” – i.e., a course of study that progresses from a set beginning to a set end. Rather, it is a process of learning in community and in the midst of life. The group revisits key themes again and again, each time at a deeper level and/or from a different perspective.

It is helpful to have in mind the image of a spiral when thinking about LifeCycles. In a sense, spirals are circles on a journey – they may return to a place, but time and travel and experience transform everything. LifeCycles is an ongoing process of ministry formation. It is comprised of units that flow from our foundational statement:

We are a community, gathered and sent forth by the Spirit

- to encounter our story,

- to be washed and renewed,

- to be fed with thanksgiving,

- to celebrate and serve the reign of God.

Each unit centers on a major theme (e.g., Gathered by the Spirit, or Encountering our Story), which group members consider through the lenses of experience, creativity, love, liberty, and justice. Each journey through the LifeCycles spiral also brings participants in conversation with the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, as well as the voices of history (that is, the lives of the saints).

The Session Format

Each session is designed to be two to three hours long. It will be difficult to engage the material in less than two hours. If you have a longer time frame you can spend more time in discussion and/or do more than one of the options suggested. The goal of LifeCycles is for participants to learn content, process and skills both as individuals and in community. This requires time and the active participation of all group members.

Each session follows a specific format based on the Eucharist. The community gathers, engages the Word, shares table fellowship, reflects on its experience and is sent forth. LifeCycles is based on a particular theology and practice that has developed over many years of experience. It is expected that the process will change as others use it. The session format includes:

- Purpose: Identifies the content and skills addressed in that session and what materials are needed.

- Gathering Liturgy: Each unit offers a suggested way for the gathering to unfold, including a different prayer form and teaching participants how to introduce it to others.

- Check-in: The group spends a few minutes checking in with each other, to identify who is missing, decide who will contact them during the week and name anything of significance that has happened—especially anything that impacts the group’s life.

- Focus Question: A brief warm-up exercise that invites each group member to connect his or her personal experience to the topic of the session.

- Content: Provides activities and information presented at a basic level, with a variety of more advanced options offered at the end of the session.

- Breaking Bread: A time for snacks, informal conversation and stretching.

- Reflection: The other major piece of work. Adults often learn best by doing and then reflecting on what they have done, drawing conclusions and then applying them to the next experience. Communities learn as a group when they share an experience and reflect on it. Therefore, this section is divided into two foci:

-- reflection on how the topic impacts each individual—their self-understanding, their relationship with God, their call and ministry in the church and in the world; and

-- reflection on how the topic impacts the group, their understanding of themselves as a group, their relationship with God, their call and ministry in the church and in the world.

- Housekeeping: The group identifies who will lead the various parts of the next session—the assumption being that leadership roles will most often move around. They also review any preparation that needs to be done for the next session and the daily Scripture and prayer for the next week.

- Sending Forth: Each session ends with a time of prayer and dismissal.

A copy of the initial session is included at the end of this overview; the entire first unit is available as a downloadable file at: www.LeaderResources.org.

These files are currently in development and will be updated as work progresses.

Modules

Over time, a series of modules will be developed. A module is a design or plan for a half-day, a day or longer workshop, retreat or event that enables a group to explore a topic in-depth or to learn a specific set of skills. For example, a group that is especially intrigued by the creation stories in Genesis might have lunch together after church and invite the congregation to join them in a deeper look into why there are two creation stories, how they differ and what that means to us. Another group, which functions as a ministry support team, might have a Saturday workshop on preaching or a weekend retreat to learn about personality differences, learning styles and ways they can work together more effectively. These intensive learning experiences will be developed by groups and dioceses as needed and shared as templates for others to use in developing comparable modules for their situation.

Role of the Consultant

Each group has a consultant or companion who serves as a coach/mentor/midwife for the group. The consultant does not become the group’s regular leader but rather helps them get started and then stay on track, reflect on their progress, etc. After the first few units, the consultant moves to the role of occasional attendee, available for consultation between sessions. The consultant also helps the group identify resource materials and people, design modules and share them with the LifeCycles community, or process difficulties encountered in the group’s life and work.

The consultant is someone with a good understanding of small groups and the principles of learning communities, and who has skills in helping people reflect on and learn from their experiences. The consultant is not a teacher and is not “in charge” of the group. Their role is that of companionship as midwifery - asking questions and raising issues that enable the group to become more fully aware of its own giftedness for the journey.

Consultants are not required to complete any specific training, but opportunities for training will be offered. In addition, it is expected that consultants will join with other consultants in their region to support and learn from each other. Consultants, therefore, need to be self-starters and team players who value ongoing learning in community and have the ability to foster that type of learning in groups.

Initial development of LifeCycles has been supported by a grant from the Roanridge Trust from the Congregational Development Unit of the Episcopal Church Center.