15 September 2012
Greetings Dear Friends!
By the time you get this, our assistant Hope Jewell, Chris and I will have moved into the Center for Contemplative Activism. We have secured a little office space in north downtown Omaha at a reduced cost to support this new initiative.
As Chris and I have transitioned out of leadership in WMF we have been putting a lot of time and energy into developing the vision for the Center. Though this all seems new, we have actually been dreaming about this since finishing the Camino de Santiago back in the summer of 2007.
I understand that there are questions that many of you have about the Center and our continued participation with WMF so I wanted to take a moment to address some of those:
What is the purpose of a center for contemplative activism?
The Center will offer education, formation and support to nurture a contemplative Christian imagination for accountable and effective social engagement. Without a deep spirituality, many of our good deeds can actually cause more harm than good—harm to self in bad self-care that can lead to burnout or worse, harm to others in using or exploiting the vulnerable to feel better about ourselves which leads to breakdown and potential destruction of communities.
After nearly 20 years of mission service among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor, we’ve learned that serving in places of extreme poverty, injustice and social change demands a authentic spirituality. At WMF we’ve been developing a collective spirituality that we often refer to as “contemplative activism.”
So what is “contemplative activism?”
Contemplative activism reconciles our inner and outer lives. Contemplative practices marked by disciplines of solitude, silence and stillness, help bring adequate attention to our true selves so that we can offer the best of ourselves to the world through our active life. Such contemplative practices are not only counter-cultural for social activist types, but for society at large. What we’ve learned is that many missionaries, social activists, students, ministers, and lay people of all walks of life are hungry for this depth of life.
Contemplative spiritual practices help us live the Christ life by purifying our motivations for service and liberating us from thought and behavioral patterns that threaten that good service in the world. The result is more effective work in the world where true justice, freedom and peace can reign—hallmarks of the reign of Christ.
Anyone who is concerned about their neighbor and is seriously combating poverty and injustice in our world needs to connect with their inner life to authentically energize their active life, thus “contemplative activism.”
How does the Center relate to Chris and Phileena’s vocation among people in poverty?
The essential core of our vocations has not changed. Our lives and message will continue to be given to a prophetic witness and engagement with our global neighbors in poverty. Now, we will just be able to devote ourselves 100% to this, rather than be divided by WMF operations, staff development, administration and infrastructure concerns. The Center will enable us to do more speaking and teaching, publishing, offer more spiritual and practical support for workers at the grass roots, and consultation for other communities and organizations like WMF. In this way, we will be able to do more for our global neighbors in poverty—seeing more abandoned children welcomed into loving homes; more young people being set free from the sex trade; more survivors of war being healed; all of whom become agents of hope and reconciliation.
How does the Center relate to WMF?
We will continue to serve WMF as WMF community members. WMF has pledged to incubate and support the Center by covering rent for the first year. This will give us some time to work out all the intricacies of clarifying vision and values; defining the programs and services; and establishing a tactical plan to enable the Center’s long-term sustainability.
The Center will also support WMF community members. They will be able to receive the various programs of the Center for their formation and sustainable work in urban poverty. Our friends in poverty as well as the non-poor alike will directly benefit from learning more about Christian contemplative spirituality and adoption of various spiritual disciplines in their life.
How can you support Chris and Phileena and the Center?
As you can imagine, this is an exciting and delicate time for Chris and me. In some ways we are leaving something secure and comfortable (our positions as executive directors of WMF) for something new and unknown (founding the Center). With every new venture, there is risk. We can’t go it alone. We need partners who share this vision of a better world to stand with us as we dare to create a new platform that will allow for focused formation of people eager to engage the social concerns of the 21st century.
Please continue to send your financial contributions to WMF, designating them for the Heuertz’. If you have not set up an automatic monthly withdraw to expedite your donations and would like to, email me or call the office and we’ll be glad to get that set up for you.
We will be moving to digital prayer letters soon. Please take a moment to email me at phileena.heuertz@wordmadeflesh.org to make sure I have your current email address. And if you have any questions at all about this new chapter in our lives, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers as we launch this exciting new initiative,
– Phileena Heuertz
There’s no limit to the goodness God can do in our world when we learn the art of reconciling our inner and outer lives. When we give God access to our inner conflict, the peace of Christ can reign there, making peace possible in our world.