Voices for Vocational Accompaniment Leading, Mentoring, and Learning from the Next Generation

by (FTE), Forum for Theological Explorat; al, Heather B.P. Wallace et.

• ISBN13: 9781098395032
• ISBN10: 1098395034
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-09-27
• Publisher: BookBaby

Summary

The Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) has since 1954 supported young adults discerning a call to ministry. Through grants, fellowships, and gatherings connecting mentors and mentees, FTE has helped future generations of pastoral leaders find their vocations. Voices for Vocational Accompaniment is another tool to help support those who accompany discerning young adults.

This resource is presented in two main parts. The first section, "Young Adult Reflections on Vocational Accompaniment," lifts up the voices of young adults in FTE's network. Here they reflect on their experiences of being mentored and accompanied on their
vocational discernment journey. Their contributions come in many forms, including essays, letters to their mentors, and poems. You will find that the diversity of formats matches the diversity of individuals and their experiences. The second section, "Accompanying Change," features mentors and practitioners from FTE's network of faith-based institutions and congregations. They share their reflections on perfected methodologies and proven practices in their accompaniment and mentoring ministries. Themes around storytelling, community, and identity rise up again and again.

Woven between each of these sections and concluding the resource are interviews from scholars, pastors, and sages. In 2017, FTE's digital storyteller, Diva Morgan Hicks, sat down with Rev. Alisha Gordon, Dr. Gregory Ellison II, and Dr. Luther Smith to discuss mentoring. Each interview is a gift wrapped up in a quilt of experiences and stories; they are treasures for anyone who opens these pages and receives them.

This book is primarily designed as a guide for mentors in identifying key aspects of vocational accompaniment. However, any young adult in discernment who picks up these materials can easily glean a list of mentoring traits and qualities that they can use to identify a mentor—and to negotiate a meaningful relationship to accompany them on their vocational discernment journey.

Author Biography

Heather B.P. Wallace is a learning design manager at the Forum for Theological Exploration. Since 2014 her work has focused on convening discerning young adults, granting support to organizations accompanying young adults, and reporting on FTE's learning from partners in ministry. She has a master's degree in social justice and community development from Loyola University of Chicago's Institute of Pastoral Studies. She is passionate about storytelling, which stems from growing up in East Tennessee. Reverend Darlene M. Hutto is an ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is the director of experience design at FTE, where she has served since 2007. Reverend Hutto received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religion from Wilberforce University. She has her Master of Divinity degree and is currently a Doctor of Ministry candidate at Emory University's Candler School of Theology. Originally from Dublin, GA, Diva Morgan Hicks now lives in Peachtree Corners with her husband and two beautiful children. She manages social media and online communications efforts for FTE. After graduating with her bachelor's degree, she began working in the non-profit sector as a communications professional. She says, "This role at FTE gives me the opportunity to change the world by helping those who God has called to be servants, teachers, and leaders in the church." Kristen Snow is a faith leader, activist, and artist rooted in Philadelphia, PA. She has spent several years exploring theological formation everywhere except in seminary. You'll often find her learning about the Delaware River Watershed, metalworking with her partner's furniture business, or singing songs. Claire Hitchins is a white anti-racist dissenting Catholic southerner called to tend sacred spaces
where connection, healing, imagination, and justicemaking become possible. She is blessed to design and
direct Re/Generation, a mentoring and leadership program connecting young Catholic change-makers with each other and with elders to support them in their transformational work. Claire has a bachelor's degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia and is delighted to join the Master of Divinity class of 2023 at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Glafira Lopez grew up in South Whittier, CA, and has a Catholic background. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Chicana/o studies and a minor in labor and workplace studies. She is passionate about the work that empowers asylum seekers, immigrants, and young BIPOC to flourish spiritually and socially, and to deconstruct oppressive systems. Natasha L. Patterson is a Compassion-Centered Spiritual Health Chaplain Fellow with Emory University Hospital and a doctoral student at the Interdenominational Theological Center. Her current research examines speech and rhetoric as sources of spiritual and religious trauma. Thien An (Mary) Duong is an associate pastor of Maywood Church and a faith-rooted organizer. Born and raised in Sai Gon, Viet Nam, she has long witnessed the power of faith communities in resisting oppressive systems, fighting for liberation, and embodying hope in society. Her undergraduate degree is in intercultural studies and business administration. She completed her Master of Divinity degree to learn spiritual tools and traditions to help sustain and empower communities for transformation in the face of violence and injustice. Josh Lopez-Reyes (he/him) is a son to Rocio and Manuel, brother to Abraham, and husband to Grecia. He is a Californiano with family roots in the lands today known as Mexico and the southwest of the United States. Josh currently serves as the director of the Echo Park Refugee Welcome Center (EPRWC). The EPRWC is a faith community for spiritual refugees and a resource center for political refugees. Grecia Lopez-Reyes is senior community organizer with Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. Before this she served as a faith-rooted organizer for Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, focusing on labor and immigration work. She has a bachelor's degree in global studies and a master's degree in transformational urban leadership from Azusa Pacific University. Grecia is also in the process of pursuing ordained ministry in
the United Methodist Church. Mark Mares serves as the minister of youth and families at First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, MI. Previously he served as a fellow for the Albany Synod Fellowship program in Upstate New York. Mark grew up in Holland, MI attending a small, Spanish-speaking Pentecostal church his grandpa planted in the 1970s, and is grateful for the role that small church played in his formation. He is a graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary. Chelsi Glascoe is a multifaceted powerhouse from Silver Spring, MD. She has a bachelor's degree in sociology from Clark Atlanta University and her Master of Divinity degree from Mercer University. Chelsi serves as a collegiate chaplain in the Atlanta University Center, empowering young adults with truth and transparency. She is also the founder and chief operating officer of Social Shifter, a digital media marketing agency that caters to non-profits and churches. Jen Bailey is an ordained minister, public theologian, and national leader in the multifaith movement for justice. She is the founder and executive director of the Faith Matters Network, a womanist-led organization equipping community organizers, faith leaders, and activists with resources for connection, spiritual sustainability, and accompaniment. Robert Chao Romero is a professor of Chicana/o studies and Asian American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his PhD from UCLA in Latin American history and his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley. Romero is the author of the recently released book, Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity. He is an ordained pastor. Romero and his wife Erica co-founded Jesus 4 Revolutionaries, a ministry to activists. Tuhina Verma Rasche lives a hyphenated life as a second-generation Indian-American raised in a devout Hindu household and is a follower of Jesus. She is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and is called to work for the representation of God's full diversity in the church. Kelly Chatman is advisor to the bishop of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He retired from pastoral ministry in 2020 after serving many years as pastor at Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in North Minneapolis, and as director of the Redeemer Center for Life. He started the Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement, a training institute to support congregations aiming to deepen their connections to the neighborhoods in which they reside. Dr. Patrick B. Reyes is a Latinx practical theologian, educator, administrator, and institutional strategist. He currently serves as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Doctoral Initiatives at the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE).

Informed by his experience with gang-affiliated, marginalized Latinx farm-working communities, and administration in higher education and private industry, Patrick consults, speaks, and advises leaders on institutional capacity building for faith communities seeking to embody their vision of justice and peace. Informed by his home community of Salinas, California, Patrick has published research focusing on the intersection of religious practice, community capacity building, social action, and theological education.

Patrick holds a Doctorate from Claremont School of Theology, a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, a Master of Arts from Claremont School of Theology, and a Bachelors of Arts from the University of California, Sacramento.