Apprentice Gathering...Pre-Session Intensive...Reflection...

from Matt

As you may have seen on our Facebook page, we had a great time at the national Apprentice Gathering Pre-Session Intensive. 

We spent the morning talking about the rule of life that forms our intentional community. Our rule of life has three elements: prayer, hospitality, and justice. The three elements work together to help us grow in love toward God, self, and others. Those three elements also help us to pay attention to how God might be leading us through life. This led into our discussion for the afternoon, which was talking about our non-profit, SoCe Life, and what our organization is all about. 

Two delicious highlights came when one of our neighbors was able to cater the lunch for us--and it was AWESOME! And then another neighbor was able to bake cupcakes for us to share in the afternoon, and they were AMAZING! (There is so much good food in the world!!) 

I think the greatest gift of the day was connecting with the folks in our group. Throughout the day we had opportunities for side-conversations and further discussion so that by the end of the day we felt very close to those who came to our pre-session. They were also reminders to me that there are people all over the place who are doing great things, exploring important ideas, and asking hard questions. What an encouragement! 

You are invited!

Exciting news! The SoCe Life team (Adam, Ashley, Catherine, Myrna and I) will be giving a full-day presentation on Thursday, Oct. 8th as part of the Apprentice Institute National Conference (Oct. 8-10, 2015).

A little background: the Apprentice Institute was started by James Bryan Smith as a result of his books, known as the Apprentice Series, which include: The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life, and The Good and Beautiful Community. The Apprentice Institute is housed within Friends University and offers training and resources in Christian Spiritual Formation.

One of the Apprentice Institutes largest events is the annual National Conference, held at Friends University here in Wichita, KS. They bring in world-class authors and speakers in the field of spiritual formation for plenary talks, workshops and pre-session intensives (that’s where SoCe Life comes in!). We will be leading a pre-session intensive on Thursday, Oct. 8th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Friends University Campus.

Our intensive will focus on the social justice elements of our work including asset-based community development, our rhythm of life as an intentional community, and how we discern the Spirit’s leading. Our goal is inspire people to follow the Spirit’s leading in their own lives and their own communities. Our goal is not to form mini-SoCes, hence the title of our intensive: “Don’t do what we’re doing!”

The intensive will be highly interactive and fun, with storytelling, multi-sensory prayer, music and dialogue. If you are interested in coming visit: http://apprenticegathering.org/ and click on the “Pre-Sessions” link on the left to learn more.