Growing the Garden: A Focus on Coaching
“Being a pastor is like being a gardener” relates Fr James Mallon. He continues, “a gardener glories in the beautiful flowers that grow in his garden. We are called to grow the garden…” But when the job is large and when the tool shed is empty and the workers few, what began in passion can move to burnout.
Happy Mother’s Day!
There is something about this day that seems like it is bathed in a glow of sunlight and the scent of flowers. Motherhood is one of the most beautiful callings. Those that nurture and raise the young: biologically, adoptively, or spiritually reflect part of the nature of God. At the last women’s ministries night we hosted…
Home Sweet Convent: A Story from the UK
Sister Mary Magdalen has COVID. In fact all the Sisters of Mary Morning Star at the convent in Lynton, UK, have COVID this week. And on the way back from the craft sale (where they picked up the virus) their car broke down.
Sister Mary Magdalen explains, this is “an extraordinary story of the providence of God.”
“Come Holy Spirit”: A Story from the UK
Once a week in the Parish of St. Peter and the Winchester Martyrs (SPWM) in the UK, Shana McDonough, Michaela Waterfield, and Allegra Mutanda do just that: they meet and they pray.
A few months ago, they didn’t even know one another. Now, they share their lives and grow together in faith as they pray with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
At the Door: A Story from New Zealand
Emily Sit would define herself as a door stop.
From the function of the pews to the beauty of the stained-glass windows, the church building is a metaphor for the diversity of the gifts of the people that make it up; the people who transform it from a building to the Church. Just as each support beam and every floorboard are needed for the building to be whole, so too, the Church: people individually gifted, collectively called.
And Emily is a door stop.
A Deeper Love: A Story from Canada
“I don’t usually talk this much” Father Tony says with a smile, a man whose quiet, unassuming nature is animated by his love for evangelization.
He began working with Divine Renovation four years ago after reading Father James Mallon’s book Divine Renovation: From a Maintenance to a Missional Parish. Soon after he connected through Kickstart, then Traction where he is now coached by DR’s Rob McDowell. In his move from maintenance to mission Father Tony is confident, “The Holy Spirit is guiding; I can tell you that it is a good decision.”
