Four Methodist Monastics at the Bishops's Probationary Conference

This week, four of us, myself, Peter, Jacob, and Mark all took part in the Bishop's Probationary Conference at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville. Pete and Jacob were there as probationers; Mark and I took part as small group leaders. This is the third such conference that the United Methodist Church has held. It is intended to give probationary clergy (those who've been commissioned as ministers but not yet ordained) some compass headings for vocational ministry.

I haven't yet taken the time and effort to explore it fully, but it seems to me, at least amorphously, that the kind of work our S3 group is interested in doing would translate to an event like the Bishops' Probationary Conference. There was much discussion about being reflective and thoughtful as one enters ministry. There was even a session that was named "Interiority," which sounds like an artificial word; however, the thrust of that panel discussion had to do with, of course, the inner life and how our inward spiritual condition affects our outward pastoral actions and decisions. This seems like fertile monastic territory. After a little time for reflection, I'd be interested for the others of you who went to the conference to chime in about that (Tommy and Chip can, to0).