After listening to members of our worldwide community and spending time in prayer and collaboration, the Contemplative Outreach board and staff teams propose the following structure of prayerful discernment and servant leadership to support the purpose of Contemplative Outreach. This is a living idea that will continue to evolve under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We see the purpose of Contemplative Outreach as serving the following functions that are beyond individual practitioners, prayer groups or the various teams that share the prayer in their local areas:
- Embracing, embodying and evolving the Contemplative Outreach vision as expressed in the Theological Principles and Guidelines for Service by Thomas Keating.
- Stewarding the Keating legacy and the financial resources of the community.
- Providing opportunities for formation and leadership, while maintaining the integrity of the method of Centering Prayer and the supporting contemplative practices.
- Connecting our evolving community to resources, groups, etc. and providing avenues of communication.
We envision a Council of Servant Leadership who seeks to serve as Jesus modeled.
2024_Council StructureThis illustration:
- expresses our desire to rely on the Holy Spirit
- emphasizes our shared Centering Prayer practice (represented by the orbits) which is the primary expression of belonging
- reflects our priorities
- invites membership from our primary and existing worldwide teams and emphasizes the integral role of volunteers
- recognizes the whole community (including practitioners who are not participating in groups and those yet to come)
- recognizes God as the Indwelling Presence of the whole community and all creation
- acknowledges our interconnections with each other and all creation as living cells n the mystical body of Christ.
A formation process will be important for all members of the council to help them engage in this form of collaboration and servant leadership to collectively advise and empower teams and volunteers. The foundation of this formation will include grounding in Thomas Keating’s Spiritual Journey teaching series and embracing the Contemplation Outreach vision.
All members are to be deeply rooted in the Centering Prayer and have substantial retreat participation and experience.
Council members aspire to:
- be led by the Spirit
- continue growing in self-knowledge, flexibility, cultural sensitivity, comfort with uncertainty, and to practice deep listening.
- be familiar with the function and purposes of Contemplative Outreach
- have the time and desire to participate in the formation process
- be receptive to and comfortable with technology for online meetings and communication
- have availability for meetings and the responsibilities that serving on the council entails.
Prospective members of the council are invited to begin a prayerful discernment with other members of their group to determine whether they are called to serve in this way.
To assist the functioning of the council, two facilitators from different circle teams would pair together for a time, and then another pair, and so on. The facilitators are not permanent roles but serve a temporal function.
Facilitators would:
- consolidate the meeting agenda based on the requests and proposals of the other circles;
- facilitate the encounters, invite and encourage participation, hold space together with all participants, call for silence or refocus if necessary;
- create meeting minutes or find a volunteer to do so, as needed.
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Some questions have arisen about Diversity on the council. What follows is a description of the work of diversity for the global Contemplative Outreach community:
The human and organizational work of diversity essentially recognizes that biases and discrimination exist everywhere and that addressing these is an important part of the evolution of human consciousness and relationships. These biases and discrimination differ by culture and historical timing.
When Contemplative Outreach as a community commits to diversity principles, it commits to an intentional examination of mythic membership consciousness, bringing what is unconscious to the light of conscious awareness. The work of diversity can include 1) creating equity and access for all, 2) fostering inclusion such that all people feel a sense of welcoming and belonging, and 3) ensuring that our community reflects the diversity and sacredness of all cultures, ethnicities, races, faith traditions, sexual orientations, gender identities, socio-economic levels, etc.
Diversity principles are a particular way of practicing utmost charity and radical hospitality and are part of the CO community’s commitment to honor and embody our theological principles and guidelines for service.
[updated September 16, 2024]
