My name is Mike Mather and I'm pastor at Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana in the U.S. I was writing to ask what folks are doing in their faith communities to apply and use the principles of ABCD in their settings. And I'm asking if anyone has questions about it that we could share with one another about.
For example - we are playing with this in what we do with the young people and adults in the neighborhood around our church building. We have hired young people and adults from the community during the summer for the last two years to go around and talk with their neighbors. They do three things: 1) Name the gifts, talents, blessings and dreams they hear in the lives of people (they actually literally write them up on the walls and share them with each other); 2) lay hands on people and bless them (if they don't mind); and 3) connect them with other people who care about the same thing. This was a big step from running classes in everything from Bible Study to poetry to math to recreation that we used to do. We are trying to build community on the gifts and connections of the people around us. That's what we are trying. And it brings forth lots of questions.
For example - we are struggling with how to keep up with all the things that we see and hear about. It's overwhelming. But mostly in a good way. But any thoughts?
updated by @michael-mather: 10/29/16 07:43:10AM