Reveille United Methodist Church
In 2008, FTE "Cultures of Call" Grant Recipient Reveille United Methodist Church completed a visioning process to better discern the needs of its congregation. That vision resulted in several overarching goals, among them:
- To have every member involved in discipleship
- To explore intergenerational interaction and mentoring
- To have every member participate in hands-on ministry
Those objectives resulted in the appointment of a Calling Congregations Ministry Team, which developed a new 18-month program titled “Still Calling…A Journey in Vocational Discernment.” The program seeks to initiate a progressive and comprehensive means by which teens can explore a calling for their lives. “We realized that talking about vocation and calling just one Sunday per year wasn’t enough,” said Dwayne Stinson, Reveille’s Director of Youth Ministries and the leader of the Still Calling initiative.
The church was awarded a Calling Congregations grant from FTE to help facilitate, expand and deepen the process.
“The internship program gave the whole congregation an opportunity to see young people exploring and responding to their sense of call.”
“Still Calling…” commenced in January 2009. The team’s first step? Training mentors. “Mentors lay the groundwork for the entire experience,” said Stinson. A big part of training the volunteers who work with youth and young adults was to encourage participation in a retreat, led by Steve Matthews, an Episcopal youth leader and consultant who has worked with Mark Yaconelli on the national Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project. “The retreat was transforming,” Stinson said. “Our volunteers took time to listen, slow down, be present with each other and hear where God was leading them.” Stinson saw an immediate change in perspective. “They realized that their stories – their faith – mattered, and they took ownership of the way they relate to our youth.”
The team also established three summer internships for young adults seeking to explore and gain experience in hands-on ministry in three areas: worship, service and education. Each intern had a specific focus and was assigned specific clergy mentors to guide their time at Reveille. They each assisted in worship leadership, visited classes, attended meetings and were highly visible within the congregation.
One intern, who is likely headed to seminary after graduating from college, took the opportunity to preach at Reveille’s contemporary worship service. The young man, who is African-American, decided to encourage this primarily suburban, Caucasian congregation to step outside their usual patterns of worship and respond verbally with an “Amen!” during his sermon. The church became enlivened by hearing and responding to this form of calling. “Congregation members are still talking about his sermon,” Stinson remarked. “The internship program gave the whole congregation an opportunity to see young people exploring and responding to their sense of call.”
The next step? Expose the entire youth group to practices of call and discernment. Reveille adopted a curriculum called “Restless Hearts.” It helps guide young adults to explore the questions, “Who am I?” and “What am I to do with my life?” So far, it has helped the youth group learn to be present to and for one another.
Reveille is working toward becoming a true community – more than just on Sunday. “We will continue to build a spiritual culture of discernment which will, we hope, spread throughout the rest of the church,” Stinson said.
