ST. GREGORY'S STAFF ATTEND THE COLLEGE FOR CONGREGATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
This week, I want to tell you about a second conference that I attended last month (last week, I shared about my trip to Washington, DC for the 2025 Tri-History Conference). Along with Father Andrew Sherman, our rector, and Gena Vallee, our Director of Outreach, I attended the College for Congregational Development at Our Lady of Florida Retreat Center in North Palm Beach from the evening of Sunday, June 22 through noon on Friday, June 27.
The conference started in the evening on Sunday, long after church worship services at St. Gregory’s were joyfully completed. We each drove up to the retreat center (which is a Roman Catholic retreat center run by the Passionists, a religious order of priests). Then we gathered for our first evening plenary session, where we learned about what congregational development is all about. Congregational development refers to the multifaceted process of strengthening and growing a church congregation in its spiritual, communal, and missional life. It encompasses strategies and models to enhance the congregation's vitality, foster a stronger sense of community, and improve its capacity to fulfill its purpose and ministry.
After our first plenary, we had dinner together in the conference center dining hall, and then we worshiped together in the chapel, using the format for Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. The next day was jam-packed with lectures on how to grow and sustain our congregations. We split up into small groups to discuss and test out some of the new, research-based models for congregational development that we were learning. The day began with Morning Prayer in the chapel, followed by breakfast in the dining hall, and then more lectures and small group work throughout the day. We paused for a quick lunch and then went right back to work.
Each day, we worked in our small groups until dinner, followed by Evening Prayer in the beautiful main church on the retreat center campus. The only breaks we were given were 30-minute breaks here and there in the afternoon, which we used to make pastoral phone calls and to check in with the parish office and with our families. The organizers of the conference called it an "intensive" -- and it was! Each day packed in about a week's worth of training and information. One participant said that it felt like "drinking from a fire hose," but I am grateful for the opportunity to learn so much in such a short period of time.
Since its founding in the Diocese of Olympia in 2009, the College for Congregational Development has become a widely-adopted resource throughout the Episcopal Church, USA, as well as throughout the Anglican Communion. Rather than having a physical campus, the College offers trainings in different dioceses throughout the Episcopal Church every year. We were so fortunate to be part of the very first College for Congregational Development gathering in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.
I learned that there are many new, research-based models that are helpful for analyzing St. Gregory’s growth and health, and that each one of us has an important part to play in revitalizing our life together as a parish family. Father Andrew, Gena, and I will have an opportunity this Fall during coffee hour to share with you some of the exciting new ways that we can work together to make a difference in our congregation’s health and flourishing. We learned so much, and I can’t wait to share it with you! I am energized and excited for bringing new life and new opportunities for growth to St. Gregory’s. I am grateful for being able to engage in this week of intensive training, and I know that it will bear good fruit.
Yours in Christ, with kind regards,
Robyn +
The Rev. Dr. Robyn M. Neville, Ph.D.