Revisioning Retreats Help Evangelical Covenant Pastors Wrestle with Call July 2, 2007
Posted by Brad Boydston in Health, Rest & Rejuvenation, Revisioning Retreats.add a comment
Though 1300-miles apart, the Revs. Tim Bukowski and Greg Du Bois had much in common a year and a half ago. Ministers in the Evangelical Covenant Church, they both pastored small congregations, Bukowski in Machesney Park, Ill., and Du Bois in Glenburn, Maine. They were both married, with families to support. And in mid-career, after 20 years as a pastor for Bukowski and 11 and a half for Du Bois, they were both discouraged and increasingly questioning their call to ministry.
“I was feeling stuck,” recalls Bukowski. “Things were becoming routine and mechanical. I was looking for something to help me come out of that and to help me go into deeper water. I felt like I was thirsty for something, but I just wasn’t able to name it.”
“I was at a time in my ministry when I had become uncertain about whether or not I was cut out to be a pastor,” says Du Bois. “Although I could see spiritual growth in a few individuals in my church, overall the congregation was reluctant to reach out and share the gospel. I wondered if the church just closed its doors, would anyone in town even notice?”
In May 2006, however, Bukowski and Du Bois spent a life-changing week on a “Revisioning Retreat” with eight other pastors at Pilgrim Pines, an Evangelical Covenant camp and conference center in Swanzey, N.H. Part of a much broader Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program sponsored by the Evangelical Covenant Church, the revisioning retreats are designed to give pastors a chance to examine deeply their sense of call in a safe and supportive environment, according to the Rev. Dan Pietrzyk, SPE director for the Evangelical Covenant Church.
