Email: Academy 42 New Team Announcement and Core Values
From: Pat Luna (on behalf of the Academy #42 Leadership Team)
Date: November 18, 2022

Dear friend and Academy #42 participant,

As you may be aware, team member, Rev. Dr. Robin Dease, was elected Bishop of The United Methodist Church a few days ago! We are so proud of her! I am delighted also to tell you that she is remaining on the team but in a slightly different role, as Bishop-In-Residence. In this role, she will continue to practice her incredible ministry of presence. In addition, Derrick Scott will be moving from the Covenant Group Facilitator role to the Spiritual Director role. Rev. Blake Kendrick has been added to the team as Covenant Group Facilitator. This will be Blake’s 4th team with us as Covenant Group Facilitator so he is already tooled and ready to go. Welcome Blake! A great team is even better! Although the team dynamics have changed a little, our commitment to the Academy Core Values has not. I know most of you received these already but we thought it might be good to reinforce these again and with the commitment of the full team.

CORE VALUES 

One of the keys to our experience being as meaningful as possible is embodying—as a community and as individuals—the Academy Core Values attached to this email. As team members, we are committed to these values and it is important every participant desires to live into them as well:

At the heart of our experience is the rhythm of spiritual practices: prayer, worship, silence, Eucharist, and shared meals in honest and holy conversation.

We are committed to the values of integrity, wholeheartedness, and authenticity, seeking together to embrace the mystery of faith and life and to engage in honest reflection about who we are and may yet to become. We choose a life of freedom with the constant invitation to go more deeply into shared questions in a trusting environment. Love and compassion ground all that we are about and all that we honor in one another and in creation itself.

At the same time, we intentionally celebrate and cultivate diversity of culture and tradition. We will find much wisdom in the differences we encounter here and practice a form of liberating ecumenical Christianity. We honor inclusivity and radical hospitality in the daily rhythm.  

Mutual respect will be our practice and our source of discovery in this time and place. Along the way we will be invited to humility and to joy. Times of playfulness and delight will be there in the serious search for a deeper relationship with the divine life and calling to serve the world justly and lovingly. We hope each of you will find new wellsprings of creativity that can last a lifetime. In all this we hope for the transformation of our lives, our communities, our world.  

These are some of the things we value most in the Academy experience and they will guide our communal life together over the two years. We ask that you take the time now to read and reflect on the attached document, which is also available at this link. If you have questions, comments or concerns about these or your willingness to strive to live into these, please reach out to one of us to discuss.  Our emails and phone numbers are listed below. We are looking forward to this journey with you.

Blessings,

Academy #42 Leadership Team