Constant Communion
Constant Communion

The Duty of Constant Communion
The Missional Community as a Means of Grace, Week 4
by Andrea Lingle

Whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever you are will affect how you see the world. We live in a tribal world. We are white and black, gay and straight, male and female, religious and “none,” introvert and extrovert, “in a relationship” or single, coffee or tea, Instagram or Reddit. We are a diverse species and we all fear invisibility, so we draw lines around ourselves. This is me. These are mine. This is what I believe.

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Devotional, Wisdom for the WayAndrea LingleThe Missional Community as a Means of Grace, missional community, grace, Longing for Spring, Andrea Lingle, communion, missional livingComment
What Do You Love About This Place?
What Do You Love About This Place?

What Do You Love About This Place?
by Bret Wells

The WNC3 cohort of Launch & Lead met at Haw Creek Commons this weekend for their 3rd training retreat (which means they’ve now completed about 75% of the 2-year program). This event, which focuses on principles and skills related to community development, also functions as a springboard into the practicum phase of Launch & Lead.
 
So much of what we do in Launch & Lead is designed to help our participants to develop a posture of curiosity, discovery, and expectation as we encounter the world around us. That isn’t to say that we turn a blind eye to, or adopt a naïve dismissal of pain, dysfunction, injustice. On the other hand, we also realize that constantly seeking out and highlighting everything that is wrong is not any more effective or beneficial.

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Logical
Logical

 Logical
The Missional Community as a Means of Grace, Week 3
by Andrea Lingle

Have you ever done a logic puzzle? You get a list of clues, make a grid, and figure out, through astounding feats of intellect and crossing off of boxes, who sat next to whom and what color shirt they had on and what they ate.

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Devotional, Wisdom for the WayAndrea LingleTheme II, Andrea Lingle, The Missional Community as a Means of Grace, missional community, grace, missional livingComment
Community Garden
Community Garden

Haw Creek Commons Community Garden
This week's guest author, Kate Rudd, is the Cultivator at Haw Creek Commons in Asheville, NC. 

Haw Creek Commons has a new addition: a community garden! The 3,000 square foot Haw Creek Garden is situated in front of the parsonage, or Haw Creek House, and is open to neighbors who want to learn and grow food.

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Words
Words

Words
The Missional Community as a Means of Grace, Week 2
by Andrea Lingle

I am fascinated by words. Specifically names. If you have ever read a decent fantasy novel, you will have a firm grasp of how important names are. Names give you power over a thing. You should never tell anyone your true name, or they will have power over you. If you know a thing, you will know its name. Good stuff.

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Pacific Northwest Cohort
Pacific Northwest Cohort

Pacific Northwest Cohort

A couple of weeks ago, the Pacific Northwest Cohort of Missional Wisdom Foundation's Launch & Lead program got together for a Day Apart. It was a time of reflection on where the group is and where they have been; a time of considering how they will go forward together, and continuing to co-create this community of learning, experimentation, connection, and practice. There are so many beautiful things emerging because of this cohort, so many expressions and appearances of the beloved community. We give thanks for the big movements and the small moments where the Spirit is showing up.

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The Institute for Vital Ministry
The Institute for Vital Ministry

The Institute for Vital Ministry
A new nonprofit being incubated within MWF
by Ken Crawford

"You are not alone."  

These life giving words are like cool water to a parched spirit for many who serve in ministry – both clergy and laity alike. Living one's faith and spirituality by serving in ministry is an opportunity for incredible joy as we learn with, from and about other people.

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A Living Image
A Living Image

A Living Image of Communion
Discipleship as a Three-Legged Stool, Week 12
by Adam White

Over the past three months we have been discerning what discipleship looks like from our perspective at Missional Wisdom by using the image of a stool. One leg of the stool represents community. One leg is the loving of our neighbors as ourselves. Another leg is the pouring and filling of grace that we experience in following Christ is the greatest commandment. The top of the stool and connecting factor is the missional life of faith.

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The Infinity of Now
The Infinity of Now

The Infinity of Now
Discipleship as a Three-Legged Stool, Week 10
by Andrea Lingle

There is power in a circle.

There is tension in a circle: an infinite number of points presses out from a central point of unity. There is balance in a circle: each of the infinite points is equally distant from the center of the circle.

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Windblown
Windblown

Windblown
Discipleship as a Three-Legged Stool, Week 6
by Andrea Lingle

There is a churchyard in central North Carolina, roughly an hour east of Charlotte, where, in early spring, the lawn is sewn entirely in dandelions. I don’t know if these dandelions were cultivated intentionally, but one of my greatest regrets is that I never stopped my car, just for one minute, to run through the seed heads.

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Devotional, Wisdom for the WayAndrea LingleThe Mystic Way of Evangelism, Longing for Spring, Andrea Lingle, Theme I, Discipleship as a Three-Legged StoolComment
Pierced
Pierced

Pierced
Discipleship as a Three-Legged Stool, Week 5
by Andrea Lingle

It was a large stone; about the size of a slightly flattened egg. There were a dozen pits covering its surface. I scooped it off the shore and held it up to the sunlight, squeezing one eye shut to focus on each hole. I sighed. Not one hole went clear through. It needed more time. I hurled it back in the water.

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Love is God's Meaning
Love is God's Meaning

Love is God's Meaning
Discipleship as a Three-Legged Stool, Week 3
by Adam White

I was frozen and numb. I had just realized my mother stopped breathing in hospice care at Arlington Memorial Hospital. She had breathed her last breath without any pain, which was a blessing considering the past eight years of her life had been a slow mental and physical deterioration due to dementia.

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