{"id":49131,"date":"2025-12-18T09:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=49131"},"modified":"2025-12-18T09:02:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:02:59","slug":"el-final-de-una-temporada-de-discernimiento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/resources\/news\/the-end-of-a-season-on-discernment\/","title":{"rendered":"El final de una temporada de discernimiento"},"content":{"rendered":"

After completing a season of \u201cLeading Theologically\u201d focused on discernment, the\u00a0Rev. Zo\u00eb Garry, associate director of Theological Education Funds Development for the Presbyterian Foundation<\/a>, invited her colleague, the Rev. Bill Davis, to the final edition this season to explore some of the highlights from five previous editions. Watch the most recent installment here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Garry asked Davis the question she asked each of the previous guests: At what point in your ministry did discernment become an important practice?<\/p>\n

For Davis, it was his first call out of seminary, when he served as an associate program director at Calvin Center<\/a>, the camp and conference center of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta<\/a>. Davis helped launch the Common Soul program, which they spelled both \u201csoul\u201d and \u201csole,\u201d \u201cpointing out that we share a common faith and a common walk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The program was designed to help young adults discern their call into ministry, either inside the church or outside, according to Davis. Young adults in the program worked in roles including environmental education staffers and lifeguards and also in church settings, giving them experience in children and youth ministry. Over three years, about half of the 18 young adults in the program ended up going to seminary while others discerned calls not to attend seminary but stay in the ministry of camps and conference centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of discernment is figuring out what God is calling you to do, but also what God is calling you not to do,\u201d Davis told Garry. \u201cKnowing what we\u2019re not gifted or good at is sometimes more important than figuring out what we are good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reminded Garry of her conversation<\/a> with the Rev. Dr. Gini Norris-Lane, executive director of UKirk<\/a>. \u201cOur early 20s is a directional period of many of us,\u201d Garry said. \u201cWe can obviously change our life at any moment, but our 20s is a time for pointing us where we\u2019ll go later in life.\u201d She asked Davis: What can we as the wider church learn from UKirk and other young adult ministries like Camp Soul?<\/p>\n

One lesson about ministry involving young adults is that \u201cto get critical mass, you have to have partnerships and creativity about thinking outside the box,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThe gift of UKirk is it\u2019s a place where people come to ask questions, a place and a space where folks welcome young adults who might not be in school but are working in the town.\u201d It\u2019s also \u201ca place to ask questions of faith\u00a0\u2014 big questions like purpose, why I matter, why my degree matters, and how do I figure out how to live as a faithful follower of Jesus seeking justice, not only for myself but for the community I find myself part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to welcome younger folk into the church, we have to be broadly accepting,\u201d Davis said, \u201cand that\u2019s something UKirks do better than others. I think that is the gift Gini provides the denomination and the world \u2014 helping people welcome holistically and whole-heartedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the second episode<\/a> with the Rev. Tim Yi, youth pastor at Community Church of Seattle<\/a>, as her guest, Garry discussed \u201cthe intentionality of space\u201d and the creation of \u201ctrusted relationships with leaders and with youth.\u201d She asked Davis what he as a parent is looking for in youth groups and children\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n

Davis said one of his children sings each week in a youth choir of about 50 children. There are adults in the room, of course, but high schoolers also attend to mentor students and help each section to come together. \u201cMy eldest has gotten to know a high school vocalist really well,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWhen we talk about discernment, I think about the intergenerational nature of community discernment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s one of the most important things the church offers,\u201d Garry said, \u201cthis intersectional and intergenerational space. I\u2019ve always loved that about churches.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of Garry\u2019s conversation the Rev. Daniel Heath<\/a>, Davidson College<\/a>\u2019s associate chaplain and director of the Davidson Forum, Davis thought about vocation, the place where we\u2019re called to work, and avocation, which for Davis is the music \u201cthat feeds my soul and gives me energy and life, and yet it\u2019s not the primary work I do.\u201d Avocation can be a hobby or board service, or, for Presbyterians, volunteer work at the mid council or national church level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t have a balance between our vocation and avocation lives,\u201d Davis said, \u201cI think we\u2019re missing what God calls us to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Rev. Zo\u00eb Garry<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about helping other people feel alive too,\u201d Garry said. \u201cSo much of our culture is taken with the myth of hyper independence,\u201d that \u201cit\u2019s my life, and I\u2019ve got to take care of myself all by myself. That\u2019s not the truth that the church tells us.\u201d She spoke with the Rev. Ann-Henley Nicholson<\/a>, Columbia Theological Seminary\u2019s Vice President of Enrollment, who noted that \u201cyou don\u2019t have to be everything to step into something,\u201d Garry said. \u201cWe\u2019re part of this church that has so many talented people and so many amazing experiences. If you can\u2019t do something, somebody else can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis then brought up his friend Maria, who taught his confirmation class when he was 13 and invited Davis a few years later to work as a camp counselor at Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly<\/a> in the Texas Hill Country. After that, she was instrumental in talking Davis into attending Columbia Theological Seminary<\/a> for the chance to study under luminaries including the Rev. Brian Wren<\/a> and the Rev. Dr. Rodger Nishioka<\/a>. \u201cI think about Maria when I think about shared discernment, and about what happens in community with folks we have lifelong relationships with,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

The most recent edition<\/a> before the current installment was one Garry shared with the Rev. Michael Gehrling, associate for Recruitment and Assessment with 1001 New Worshiping Communities<\/a>. \u201cMore and more it\u2019s becoming clear that we can\u2019t do this [work] on our own,\u201d Garry said. \u201cWe have incredible resources in our denomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as a denomination are willing to go places and do things in response to God\u2019s radical call to love our neighbors,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI think about the resources we have poured into these creative ministries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is God calling us to faithfully reflect our Presbyterian Reformed witness in the world today? That is an act of discernment,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe discern things individually and we discern organizational structures collectively.\u201d That\u2019s something that occurs every two years at General Assembly, Davis noted. \u201cThere is deep discernment work\u201d in \u201clistening to the voice of God for the future of the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute delight getting to have these amazing conversations with what I\u2019ve been untangling for this past year: what does it mean to be in conversation with God in this place and time?\u201d Garry said. She thanked Davis \u201cfor the opportunity to have been able to explore that this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about the Theological Education Fund at the Presbyterian Foundation <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After completing a season of \u201cLeading Theologically\u201d focused on discernment, the\u00a0Rev. Zo\u00eb Garry, associate director of Theological Education Funds Development for the Presbyterian Foundation, invited her colleague, the Rev. Bill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":49134,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}