Waycross Conference and Retreat Center, Morgantown Indiana, a beautiful facility off the beaten path nestled in the hills and forest 90 minutes south of Indianapolis. I highly recommend it for comfort, food, hospitality and beauty.
The Saturday afternoon run/walk took on a path that led into the woods, up a hill following a scenic ridge. Three times I scared up deer. The fallen leaves are thick hiding the roots, nuts, rocks and other hidden obstacles, so I walk until I come to a gravel road that follows a winding crystal clear creek.
The group is small, but comes from Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana and myself from Minnesota. They are delightful, fun and very appreciative. I leave with the sense that these people are hungry for new ways to enter into kid’s lives. I pray they will have the courage and persistence it takes to make changes.
Much of Peer Ministry is about welcoming which necessitates the “C” word: CHANGE, a theme that keeps resurfacing for me throughout the weekend. If a youth ministry group, a church, or even a personal friendship welcomes someone than change is inevitable. Welcoming reshapes dynamics, space, ways, familiarity, comfort, customs, traditions, leadership, dreams and what ever it is that has become known as “normal.” At their hearts churches want be known as welcoming, but the church often seems unable to adapt and react, threatened and fearful putting up defensive walls. It is hard to keep up with a world that spins in rapid arrays of changes. Answers are complex, but begin with a willingness for churches to claim their own mission to welcome, include, accept, care, and embrace all of God’s people and creation. Welcoming imposes an acceptance of “new normals.”
My run draws the fresh chilled air into my lungs as I find myself being more conscious of my own new journeys and new prayers for patience and acceptance for what I may find around the next turns on life’s road.
