A few weeks ago, I received an email asking, why I was planning on attending the 2016 Missional Voices gathering at Virginia Theological Seminary in April. At the time, I didn’t have a good response. Since then, I’ve been added to a Facebook group of people attending the gathering where some interesting posts have been shared. My thoughts are starting to take shape.

The starting point of my interest came from a few different places. Last year, I attended a poetry conference at Yale Divinity School. During a guided meditation, I had a strong sense of God calling me in to ministry. It has started a period of discernment, where I am seeking to get a better sense of exactly what sort of ministry God is calling me into. I believe it may be a calling to the ordained priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

As I’ve spoken with my priest, my bishop, members of the commission on ministry, and my discernment committee, I’ve talked a lot about the unexpected. My experience at the poetry conference, in fact, even my attendance, was unexpected. I suspect that the path ahead will present many additional unexpected twists and turns.

I enjoy seeking out the unexpected and am excited about discovering whatever is in store for me in the current leg of my journey. I don’t want to jump the gun and start exploring down a path I’m not meant to go, but I do want to explore what I can.

One of the subject areas for study for those seeking ordination in the Episcopal priesthood is “Christian Theology, including Missionary Theology and Missiology.” I’ve encountered plenty of Christian Theology over the years and I look forward to further studies in the topic. However, “Missionary Theology and Missiology” was a new idea to me and one that I’m looking forward to exploring.

Another part of my journey is social media. I’m currently the social media manager for a community health center. It is a language I am very comfortable with, and I wonder how it fits into my calling. Seeing a post about “Missional Voices” in a social media group caught my attention, so I have signed up to go to the event, similar to how I signed up to go to the poetry conference last year.

I’m not sure what I am expecting out of the gathering. I am hoping it will not be yet another church conference or academic gathering. I don’t think it will be. The conference website has a lot of phrases that make me excited.

“Imagine a church that breaks free of its walls…”
-The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle

Missional Voices will be a weekend of thinking, planning, and dreaming about the future of missional communities and innovative ministries in The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. This will be a place where dynamic incubation of new ideas is the norm – not the exception – and where people doing uncommon ministry find support and encouragement.

We want to inspire and propel the Church to engage in God’s mission in life-changing ways. That is why a significant feature of Missional Voices will focus on practical engagement in incubator sessions where we can begin to dream about where God is calling us to participate in God’s mission.