Dance Like No One is Watching: FORMA and PNEUMA and Why You Should 'Dance'

On New Years Eve I was invited to a Contra Dancing party.  I looked it up online, where I learned it was folk dancing.  I wanted to do something for the holiday, but I hemmed and hawed as I thought about strangers, and dancing dances I don’t know with strangers, and a place I have never been.  Finally I chose to go, but I took my own car in case I wanted to leave.  I began the evening making Mr. Darcy jokes, but like he, I soon had a change of heart.  In the end, I loved it.  I discovered I already knew people there, and I met new people. To participate you have to work together with friends and strangers.   You have to truly connect with other dancers.  That Contra dance was a blessing to my well-being and my spirit and laid to waste all that time I had spent debating whether to go.  Maybe you have been there.  Maybe there is a group you think about but hold back.  Maybe your reasoning is solid.  In the meantime, consider this.

One of the best horizontal networks in the Episcopal Church is FORMA.  Once known as NAECED (National Association of Episcopal Christian Education Directors) in the last 5 years it has reshaped itself to meet the contemporary needs of Episcopal leaders serving in lifelong formation.  Similarly the ecumenical Western Christian Educators Conference has evolved into PNEUMA to nurture anyone serving in lifelong formation.  FORMA comes from the Latin `to shape’ and so to does PNEUMA referring to the breath of God that fills our service.  I am a long term member with  FORMA and on the planning board for PNEUMA, and both are invaluable to my ministry of formation with all ages.  

The most important part of the membership and conferences are the connections.  There is not a single person serving in this diocese who is serving alone.  There are hundreds of fellow servants wondering about program and insurance and planning and teaching and pastoring.  Everyday on the FORMA Facebook page and list serve there are colleagues who are asking the question you just thought of, and others you have but have never put words to.  These connections become resources in themselves.  People to lean on when the life of ministry is challenging and ideas to copy when your creative feet grow weary.  The PNEUMA conference offers the particular gift of an ecumenical connection.  It is incredibly easy to get stuck in our own denominational dance clubs and group think.  The ecumenical dimension helps us to discover that our brothers and sisters are often trying the same dances, and sometimes they have discovered ways to flow that we have missed.  

Last summer I encouraged a friend and new formation minister to apply for the lifelong ministry certificate with FORMA.  He says ” The FORMA conference is an incredible occasion to meet youth workers and learn what others are doing on a church wide level. The vast amount of knowledge and expertise at available through FORMA has allowed me to make incredible connections with formation workers across the international Episcopal church."

I have said it elsewhere, and I will repeat myself.  FORMA membership is the best money any congregation can spend to support anyone who teaches or supervises or baptizes or nurtures in the Episcopal church.  Period.  This is an association of ‘those who get stuff done’ and some of the hardest working and most helpful people in our life together.  The PNEUMA conference on the other hand offers nurture for those who nurture, and a colleague network that shares the experience of proclamation in the Western USA.  Furthermore the Province 8 Youth Ministry network meets concurrently with PNEUMA, and has substantial scholarship funds available to support your participation.  Take the time and commit the resources to a more connected formation ministry.  Join the dance!

To become a FORMA member visit www.episcoforma.org.  Our next conference is in January 2016 in Philadelphia.

To learn more about the PNEUMA Conference visit www.pneumaconference.com . Our next conference is this October at the Bishop’s Ranch near Santa Rosa, California.  It will feature congregational systems and diversity expert Eric Law. And the Sonoma wine country.  Which isn't as good as Washington Wine country, but it ain't bad.