Transforming the Work of Committees to Faith Formation
12 min 2s
Rev. thom bower
When thom said that committee work can be an essential means of faith formation, it gave me pause. After all, serving on committees is what many people try to avoid. But what he said made sense: when committees practice intentional reflection on their work, it can be faith forming. Put differently, committee work is faith forming when it builds up the beloved community by probing and affirming shared values, purpose and goals. Rev. Dr. thom bower elaborates on this concept and offers a simple 5-step process to guide committee work in this episode titled, “Transforming the Work of Committees to Faith Formation.”
It’s in committee work that adult faith takes its life;
Need to approach committee work in a way that recognizes that management itself is faith formation;
A 5-step process to make committee work a community building practice;
- What? (the event)
- What was it? (the debriefing)
- What about it? (getting more info)
- So what? (with that info, what do we change?
- What’s next? (Preparing for the next thing)
Rev. Dr. thom bower recently celebrated 20 years of ordained ministry. He has served the church in many ways: seminary professor, youth minister, custodian, and variety entertainer. thom holds a doctorate in religious education, and is chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of United Church Educators (AUCE). In the past ten years he has focused on interim and transitional ministries. In his spare time, he likes to build LEGO castles and dreams of running away with the circus – again.
- Recorded in July 2023
- Listen to more from Rev. thom bower