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| Ann Ross and Royce Rose listen during a session of the Spiritual Formation Network summit. Photo by Carla Wynn |
ATLANTA – Twelve Cooperative Baptist Fellowship spiritual formation leaders met Nov. 18-19 in Atlanta to discern the future of the Fellowship’s new spiritual formation network (SFN).
The SFN was announced at June’s General Assembly but had not yet taken shape. "We had an idea, but we didn’t have substance," said Rick Bennett, the Fellowship’s associate coordinator for faith formation.
Through times of prayer and worship, summit participants began discerning the SFN’s direction, including a definition for spiritual formation, Bennett said. The definition reads, "Spiritual formation is the process of being shaped in the image of Christ by the gracious working of God’s Spirit, for the transformation of the world."
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| Led by Rick Bennett, lower right, spiritual formation summit participants discuss the development of the Fellowship’s new Spiritual Formation Network. Photo by Carla Wynn |
Summit participants also drafted a conceptual structure for the SFN, which includes leadership by a 12-person steering team, which has yet to be selected. With a priority of achieving spiritual formation through gatherings, print media, partnerships and a virtual Internet presence, the network’s two-fold purpose will be relating and resourcing.
Selected on the basis of experience and involvement in spiritual formation, the 12 spiritual formation leaders joining Bennett in the discerning process were:
Mary Jayne Allen, minister of education at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Sheree Jones, pastoral educator at First Baptist Church in Aiken, S.C.
Rick Jordan, congregational life coordinator for North Carolina CBF
Jeanie Miley, spiritual formation author and retreat leader
Devita Parnell, associate coordinator for congregational life for Georgia CBF
Sandi Rogers, pastor of faith formation at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va.
Royce Rose, theological education for Baptist General Convention of Texas
Ann Ross, layperson at First Baptist Church in Madison, Ga.
Rachel Shapard, associate minister at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga.
Marjorie Thompson of Upper Room Ministries in Nashville, Tenn.
Alta Whitt, college minister at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C.
Howard Williams, minister of spiritual formation at Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala.
For more information about spiritual formation, contact Rick Bennett at (770) 220-1605 or rbennett@thefellowship.info.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.