Pics from Hope Partnership Experience 2

This past weekend I was in Globe, Arizona with about 70 other Disciples from across Arizona for our second Retreat Weekend with Hope Partnership. That gathered body included folks from 7 congregations (FCC Scottsdale, Foothills Christian Church, FCC Mesa, FCC Tucson, Saguaro Christian Church, Capilla del Sol, and Community Christian in Marana) and nine members of our church.

Here are a few photos (and a few short reflections) on what we were up to!

Our wonderful Hope Partnership Team: Monica, Al, Bob,
Shirley, Bob, Judy, Carol, and Nancy.
Not pictured: Me!

Our retreat site: The Dream Manor Inn
Who knew there was such a terrific facility in Globe, Arizona!
(Please Note: I was on the organizing committee for the event
and didn't realize the "bed and breakfast" that was hosting
our Retreat Weekend would be anything like this). The
Dream Manor Inn is a wonderful facility, situated on the top of
high hill in Globe, AZ and proudly owned and operated
by members of FCC Globe. 

A major theme of the Retreat Weekend was creativity -- finding
creative ways to engage our community, push past our obstacles,
and be "the hands and feet of Jesus" at work in our world.
The First Night we tackled the "Spaghetti and Marshmallow Challenge"
where we had to build the tallest tower we could out of 20 pieces
of spaghetti, a small selection of tape, and a marshmallow.
After prototyping, rearranging, and jumping right in, here is our creation.
Our table came in second!

The Weekend was filled with presentations, conversations, and
interactive sessions. This picture (though hard to see; don't worry
look below for clearer images) comes from the "High-Road Church vs.
Naughty Church" session. Each of the Post-It Notes in this pic contains
a word, phrase, or description that captures our dreams of the
church at its very best (i.e. The High-Road Church). 

High-Road Church
Pictured here are some of the dozens of Post-It Note Responses
such as "The Presence of God", "Justice" and "Discipleship Classes.
If you look closely you'll also see a cartoon depiction of a
Community Garden. The List also included words like "Going to Serve",
"Love", "Joy", "Diversity", "Purpose", "Open" and "Enthusiastic".

Naughty Church
And here is the opposite list. The words and phrases that describe
what we identified as "The Naughty Church". The picture includes
words and phrases like "Burnt Out Lightbulbs", "Sorry, we are closed",
and "Country Club Church". Other descriptors were "Judgmental",
"Complacency" and "Boring".

 We took those evocative words and phrases that describe the High-Road Church and then we started to dream together. What would the ideal church look like? How would it act? What would it do? What makes it different or distinct or unique? And instead of simply discussing those questions we engaged our creative minds through some hands-on, arts and crafts time! You want to know just how creative our Hope Team is here at FCC Scottsdale? Here are just a few of the art projects that members of our team created to represent the Dream Church God is calling us to be.

 First thing is first. We have some amazing artists in our church!

Second thing, the nine members from our church sat down together to talk about our art and then we created a written list of the themes that we saw occurring over and over again. That list included "Christ-Centered", "Open Doors", "Spiritual Growth", "Diversity", "Community", "Service", "Joy", "Loving Others", and "Acceptance."

We were supposed to simply list those words on a great big sheet of paper, but instead our team (feeling inspired and creative) did an impromptu artistic rendering that put Christ right at the center of our piece of paper and then the other words radiating out like rays from the sun.

We left the Hope Partnership Weekend Retreat inspired, excited, hope-filled, and...with homework! We are doing a 21-Day Challenge (more on that later) which means we have already had a follow-up meeting in the few days since our retreat, and at that meeting I put up our impromptu, artistic, list-like description of our Dream Church. The Hope Partnership and the 21-Day Challenge are going to help us get closer to being that "Dream Church" right here at FCC Scottsdale. You can look forward to hearing more about it and about how you can plug in and dream with us in the coming days, weeks, and months!