Rebuilding Resilience
Close to a year ago, some of you gathered to talk about the future of the Spiritual Life & Learning Center (then known as The Burkhart Center). Within a few months, a new name, branding and website brought new enthusiasm. It was the start of reimagining the congregation’s adult learning program and the centrality of the Center’s work in adult learning, as noted in First Community’s 2021 Strategic Plan.
Although events in late 2022 bought complications to our work, the Center is nonetheless ready to rebuild — or rather, to “build upon” is a more accurate description — the resilience and energy of last year’s successful changes.
“Rebuilding Resilience” is the name of our Saturday, Feb. 25 mid-day program scheduled in Grace Hall at North (10 a.m. to Noon). We’re inviting you to be there. The program will be facilitated by Janine Harris Degitz, who works with schools, nonprofits and other institutions to help communities build resiliency.
Among the first questions we’ll ask is, “Why are we here? What about the Center’s work makes it important enough that you showed up?”
Plans for this Feb. 25 program have been in the works since the fall, when we first envisioned conducting strategic conversations with you. Although some conversations have changed, the core of what we planned is there: What does the Spiritual Life & Learning Center need to thrive?
It’s not good enough to merely exist. Simply “existing” lacks creativity, intention, and excellence. Simply “existing” is neither worthy of the Center’s unique space at a large Protestant congregation in central Ohio nor sufficient as the nexus of adult learning for First Community’s unique membership.
I’m excited to meet more of you in person on Feb. 25. Let’s engage in a community conversation about what the Center needs in a forward-looking conversation. I hope you’ll join us.
If you can attend this Spiritual Life & Learning Community conversation, please SIGN UP HERE. — Debra Mason
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