2006 Consultation: Pasadena

The Coalition for Ministry in Daily Life’s 14th annual consultation proved to be an unusually rich event. Held at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, April 21-23, 2006, it brought together practitioners, leaders and scholars from a wide spectrum of institutions and Christian traditions. Together they generated fresh light on a key part of the perennial task of relating Christian faith to everyday life. The consultation theme was Serving God in the Workplace: People Making a Difference.

(See the Advent 2006 (Volume #17, Issue #3) edition of LayNet for additional commentary.)

Over thirty people from different parts of North America agreed to be small-group and plenary presenters.    

Chief consultation planners included CMDL board members John Lewis (chair), Nancy DeNero, Christy Trudo, Chris Scott, and Paul Minus, with important planning roles also played by Fuller leaders Richard Mouw, Walter Wright and Guy Higashi.   

 Lewis explained that the consultation was shaped in ways that provided attendees ample opportunities to:

• learn about creative approaches and best practices now underway to serve God in workplaces throughout North America,

•  meet people from diverse backgrounds and share stories about how the leaven of the gospel impacts everyday life, and

• consider strategies for increasing commitment to the “Sunday-Monday connection” in church and work communities.

Other key goals included

1. Learning about best practices   

With fresh interest rising widely regarding how Christians can serve God in their many workplace situations, consultation planners arranged for the presence of a diverse group of men and women with significant experience in this field who shared their stories about their efforts to live the gospel message in the workplace.     

Attendees had opportunities to hear these stories and discuss issues raised by them in small groups Saturday morning and afternoon, April 22. Topics for these “breakout” groups included:

Morning
Transforming Work Environments - Bottom Up
Discerning Personal Vocations
Bringing Our Ethical Selves to Work
Discovering and Responding to God’s Workplace Presence

Afternoon
Transforming Work Environments – Top Down
Discerning Church Vocations in the Community
Best Practices of Independent Workplace Ministries
Turning Congregations Inside Out   

The consultation also featured several plenary sessions when all attendees were together to hear keynote presentations by Fuller President Richard Mouw (Friday night), biblical scholars Jane Patterson and John Lewis (Saturday morning), and film industry leaders Ralph Winter and Scott Derrickson (Saturday night).

2. Connecting people    

A recurring high point of past CMDL annual consultations was the opportunity they gave attendees—coming from Evangelical, mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic sectors of the Christian community—to connect with like-spirited people they had not previously known, and to be strengthened by these new friendships. This happens naturally at consultations in the course of meals, discussion groups, worship, and unscheduled conversations.    

But planners of the Pasadena consultation additionally began this event with a period Friday afternoon when attendees could experience an intentional process of helping them to begin connecting and networking.     

Some attending the consultation were longtime CMDL partners. But the many newcomers also present was heightened by the fact that active co-sponsoring roles were played this year by a diverse group of organizations spread across the country (Fuller, the National Center for the Laity, Laity Lodge, the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the United Church of Christ, the Workshop/Center for Faith in the WorkPlace, and Luther Seminary’s Centered Life Initiative).     

This large number of first-time participants at the Pasadena consultation was also increased by the fact that Fuller’s President Mouw personally invited a number of independent parachurch workplace ministries not previously involved with CMDL, as well as representatives of seminaries interested in possibly making these issues a more significant part of their educational programs.

3. Considering strategies    

With a key purpose of CMDL being to help make the Sunday-Monday connection a more vital part of Christian practice everywhere, consultation attendees had a variety of opportunities to consider such strategic matters. Key among them was the CMDL annual meeting, consideration of major themes for the 2007 consultation, and preliminary discussion of a several-year research project focused on discerning ways that the Sunday-Monday connection could be most effectively pursued in congregations/parishes.