Cultivating Refugia: Building the Resilient Church
A Small Church Leadership Community for congregations in Northern New England
June 2023 - May 2024
As an expression of The BTS Center’s commitment to the health and vitality of small churches, this Small Church Leadership Community is offered as a gift to congregations, without an enrollment fee.
Five congregations from Northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts) have formed teams of 4-5 persons each and are currently participating in this year-long program as part of this 2023-2024 Small Church Leadership Community.
We are no longer accepting applications.
In biology, the term “refugia” refers to “little pockets… where plants and creatures hide from destruction, hidden shelters where life persists and out of which new life emerges.”
In her book, Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth, Debra Reinstra asks, “How can people of faith become people of refugia? How can we find and create refugia, not only in the biomes of the earth, but simultaneously in our human cultural systems and in our spirits?”
Participating congregations are exploring the concept of refugia and considering how it might shape their mission and identity. Over the course of this program, we are working to name and deepen the unique gifts of small congregations in ways that strengthen their resilience and help them engage in meaningful ministry in this time of cultural and planetary upheaval. We are discerning new vocational possibilities for our communities: ones that are not about growing bigger, but about growing deeper into new ways of thinking, being, and acting that will help us better serve our communities and our planet in this time of rapid change.
The Small Church Leadership Community offers participating congregations access to resources and practices that can strengthen us for the journey while connecting with a community of like-hearted people on similar paths. Together, we are engaging in “Small Experiments with Radical Intent” — focusing on practical steps to take toward deepening our communities.
Each participating congregation will receive one complimentary registration to Convocation 2023, to be held in person in Hallowell, Maine, September 28-29, 2023.
Research note: Small Church Leadership Community team members will take part in surveys before the beginning and at the end of the cohort. Select members may also be invited to take part in research-focused interviews and focus group conversations. These surveys and conversations will assess the ways in which participation in the SCLC is making a difference in the work and lives of its participants, as well as contributing more broadly to the exploration of questions of vocation and leadership in the context of our changing world in ways that can be shared with a broader audience.
Please contact Ben Yosua-Davis with any questions via email at ben@thebtscenter.org.
Dates
Twice monthly Zoom gatherings for learning and conversation
June 27, 2023 • Opening Session • 4 - 6pm Eastern
July 22, 2023 • In-Person Day Retreat
August 15, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
September 12, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
September 26, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
October 10, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
October 24, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
November 4, 2023 • In-Person Day Retreat
November 14, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
December 5, 2023 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
January 9, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
January 23, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
February 6, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
February 27, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
March 12, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
April 9, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
April 23, 2024 • 4 - 6pm Eastern
May 4, 2024 • Closing In-Person Day Retreat
Meet our Facilitators
Rev. Dr. Wanda Stahl is a spiritual guide, retreat leader, educator, and consultant who has worked in a variety of congregational, denominational, and academic settings. Most recently, she served on the faculty and as Director of Contextual Education at Boston University School of Theology where her favorite moments were engaging with students exploring questions of meaning, purpose, and vocation. Wanda continues at BU on the Leadership Team for Creative Callings, a Lilly Endowment funded project focused on accompanying and supporting local congregations as they discern and deepen their callings to serve in their communities. She holds M.Div. and STM degrees from Boston University School of Theology and a Ph.D. in Theology and Education from Boston College.
Wanda has completed programs in Individual Spiritual Guidance, Contemplative Prayer Group and Retreat Leadership, and Group Spiritual Direction through the Shalem Institute in Washington DC. In 2021, she completed the year-long Seminary of the Wild EcoSpirituality Certificate, an experience which deepened her already strong connection to the Earth as a source of wisdom, guidance, and healing for navigating these challenging times. Wanda has been a follower of Jesus since she was a teenager, grounded especially in contemplative and Wesleyan streams of Christianity. While ordained in the Methodist tradition, she has guided and mentored people from a variety of faith traditions and spiritual expressions. Wanda is the mother of two young-adult daughters who are among her best teachers. She lives in Southern Maine where she is nurtured by time near the water and walks in the woods. Wanda also enjoys reading, cooking, solving puzzles of various kinds, and sitting on her deck watching the birds.
Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz has served as a pastor in the United Church of Christ for 35 years. A native of Massachusetts, Peter’s career started in Ithaca, New York as Associate Pastor at the First Congregational Church. He then served in Evanston, Illinois as the founding director of BEHIV, a community-based AIDS organization followed by a move to Seattle where he served for 25 years as a pastor at University Congregational Church.
In 2019 he followed a call to support communities and individuals through times of change and transition. This call led him to Maine, where he served as the Interim Pastor of the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor, Maine from February 2020 to October 2021, Sabbatical Pastor at United Parish in Brookline, MA from February to June 2022, and he currently serves as the Interim Pastor at First Congregational Church in Littleton, New Hampshire.
You can follow his weekly blog posts on his website NavigatingThroughChange.com.
Peter is a graduate of Colgate University and Yale Divinity School and serves on the Program Advisory Board of The BTS Center. Peter is rejuvenated by running, sailing, biking, backpacking, conversations, reading, and writing. He looks forward to meeting you!
Meet our Host & Lead Researcher
Ben Yosua-Davis serves on The BTS Center staff team as Director of Applied Research, where he shapes the organization’s posture of “rigorous and reverent curiosity,” focused on research that supports and shares the wisdom of on-the-ground practitioners working in a climate-changed world. He is a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary and Colby College.
He is also worship leader for the Academy for Spiritual Formation, a formation process in the foundations of Christian spirituality, which welcomes leading spiritual thinkers from across the ecumenical spectrum.
Ben is a Maine native and now lives on Chebeague Island, Maine with his wife, Melissa, his son Michael, and his daughters, Genevieve and Emeline; where he directs the community chorus and delivers tins of cookies to unsuspecting neighbors. When not wearing one of his myriad hats or hanging out with his children, you’ll probably find him playing Dungeons and Dragons, watching basketball, or renovating his old island farmhouse.
