About the School
The Servant Leadership School of Greensboro has been offering classes and
spiritual formation opportunities on an ecumenical basis since 1992.
A core belief of the School is that every church in the world, by
nature, is called to prepare servant leaders to follow Jesus Christ and
serve God’s dream for a transformed world.
The Servant Leadership School invites students to a deeper
relationship with God and with others in community as we explore both an
inward journey of personal transformation and an outward journey, discerning
our own particular “call” and giving expression to some form of life-giving
service in the world.
Our Parish Vision
Our hope is to work in
partnership with the Servant Leadership School to nurture a generation of
Christian leadership in the Roanoke Valley which will bring renewal to our
churches, create life-giving alternatives in the workplace, call creative
new ministries to serve our community, and help to shape our lives in
accordance with God's dream. Classes will be offered in Greensboro
during the Summer and may be offered in Roanoke during the Fall.
The Joys and
Challenges of the Journey
by Jan Therien and Dick Willis
Submitted
by Jan Therien:
Two of Christ
Church’s parishioners recently attended a three day training session with the
Service
Leadership School in Greensboro, North
Carolina. Dick Willis and Jan Therien both experienced
significant joys and challenges in their life’s journeys while
there. Our perceptions, reflections and “take” on the messages
and actions offered to us there differed, which makes the
experience of Servant Leadership training so exciting. The
distillation of ideas, thinking, and emotions from the many
souls there in itself is part of the journey.
The Servant
Leadership
School invites students to a deeper relationship with God and
with others in community, as we explore both an inward journey
of personal transformation and an outward journey of discerning
our own particular “call” and giving expression to some form of
life-giving service in the world.
Now in its 16th
year, the school has welcomed participants form a wide variety
of churches and organizations. Whether you sense a call to
serve in ministries of compassion, justice, the alleviation of
human suffering or if you are called to practice servant
leadership in your daily life and work, bringing new life to
relationships, businesses, groups and organizations - servant
leadership provides direction.
The content of
servant leadership, as it is taught, is integrated through three
central “practices” embodied in and through our daily living:
Communion: Pray and the Practice of Presence
Compassion: Awakening the Heart
Co-creation: Alignment with Divine Power and Purpose
Core classes
represent the essential ideas of servant leadership and are
offered in a ten-week format. Christ
Church will be offering Servant Leadership I, which focuses on
Foundation for Growth and Transformation, to interested
participants this Fall. It is our hope that the journey of
transformation will unfold in the context of spiritual practice
for each who join us and enrich their daily lives to include
their relationships, businesses and/or serving in social
outreach ministries.
Servant
Leadership’s hope is to nurture a generation of Christian
leadership which will bring renewal to our churches, create
life-giving alternatives in the workplace, call forth creative
new ministries to serve our community, and help to shape our
future in accordance with God’s dream.
Our journey is
enfolding and evolving. Join us this Fall as we continue on its
path.
Submitted by Dick
Willis:
Stephen sent Jan Therien
and me to Servant Leadership School in June. For 3 days, I
talked and listened to 5 strangers about my hopes, dreams, loves
and fears. And, since I’ve been teaching Sunday school for
years, helped put together Lenten dramas, designed and led quite
a few spiritual retreats for middle-school and high-school
youth, and have been coming to church faithfully for almost 10
years, I thought I had my head pretty straight. Nope.
By the end of the
weekend, I had become aware that I wasn’t even on any kind of
discernable path, much less on the road to being what God
intended for me to be.
A main tenet of the
Servant Leadership School is that we have spent much of our
lives covering up our true selves instead of developing a true
relationship with God. Have you ever wondered if there is more
to life than getting up, eating, working, eating, and going to
sleep? Ever wondered if there is more to Church than showing up
on Sunday, listening to the Old and New Testament reading,
listening to the sermon, having Communion, and singing some
hymns? Ever feel that if you could just get some peace and
quiet, you’d finally get the chance and the courage to talk with
God about what’s really important? Nagged by the feeling that
most of the things we spend time and effort on aren’t on His
list?
A real zinger from the
Workshop was when the leader hypothesized that “when you are
standing at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter won’t ask you why you
weren’t as good as Moses. He’ll ask you why you weren’t a
better You.”
We have many
opportunities to lead, as parents, spouse, employer/employee but
frequently those opportunities degrade into “my way or the
highway”. Isn’t there a better way? If so, won’t I be giving
up everything I have become accustomed to? Who will support us
when we feel lost?
The School of Servant
Leadership believes they have the answer, and I would like to
invite you to a gathering this Fall to be introduced to a
practice of inward and outward journeying. You will be shocked
to find how far you will have to travel, but I think you will be
relieved to know that there is a path, and there will be
plenty of companions along the way.
Contact: Dick
Willis 342-9260
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