Reflections on the Trinity Leaders Fellowship Intensive
The 2027 Trinity Leaders cohort!
Connecting deeply with one another is a balm for the soul. In a harried and rushed existence in our modern lives, I find myself profoundly grateful for moments of slowing, connecting over conversation, and respite. And despite my efforts to try to cultivate this type of pause on my own, I often find that I am really, really bad at it.
I really need other people to help me slow down, breathe, reflect, and connect.
And what a gift it is to realize this! In some ways, I think I’m on a bit of a loop of learning this, forgetting it, and then re-learning it. But on every cycle, with every restart, the realization comes more swiftly, and comes with greater significance.
In mid-September, I had the opportunity to fly to New York City for a week-long intensive as part of the Trinity Leaders Fellowship.
26 of us are a part of the program. We came from all over the world, and come from multiple different faith traditions. Most were from the United States, but we had the privilege of meeting and learning from peers in Indonesia, New Zealand, India, Paraguay, Belgium, the UK, and Togo, to name a few nations which were part of this global cohort. Most people were Episcopal or Lutheran. Some were clergy. Some were lay.
We all shared a deep passion for the intersection of our faith making an impact in our communities - and during the first few days being together, we unpacked our beliefs, our values, our brokenness, and our passions together in small groups.
This was such a wonderful experience for me. In our groups, we connected deeply with one another. We slowed down. We grew to know, appreciate, and care for one another in both our triumphs and our tribulations. My peers helped me enter that God-given state of contemplation, about who I am and who God is calling me to be alongside many other people both there, and right here at St. Andrew’s.
During the rest of the week, we learned about community organizing from Dr. Brad Fulton, who directs the National Study of Community Organizing. We visited Nehemiah House, a non-profit faith coalition started by a baptist church 4+ decades ago to organize around making affordable housing for communities. During the site-visit, we saw a city filled with homes, with people, with businesses, with children and families and elderly members of the community all working together.
And then we learned that 40 years ago, this community did not exist. The land we were standing on was literally a dumping site for trash. The part of New York was the murder capital at that time.
But through interfaith community organizing and leadership, over decades, the entire landscape was transformed into something new, something flourishing, something marvellous.
The Lord says, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Rev. 21:5).
St. Paul reminds us that God working in us, “Can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).
What we witnessed was nothing short of resurrection lived out through community, through people; the grace of God made manifest in the lives of people here. It was nothing short of an earthly response to thy kingdom come. And it was undoubtedly accomplished by the people coming together and empowered by divine grace.
What a gift it was to see the significance that community organizing can have in a few short decades. It put the theory we were learning in our classes into a tangible, witnessed reality.
By the end of the week, leaving one another and our program leaders was sad. In just a few short days we had all bonded deeply. We were all excited and empowered for what was to come, and what we were going to learn.
Over the next year, I will attend zoom meetings every week with my cohort. We will learn a variety of topics relevant to leadership in our contexts, in this context right here at St. Andrew’s. I am so grateful to be a part of this fellowship, and I look forward to learning, and sharing, as I go along!
Yours in Christ,
Alex+