EXPERIENCE
A DEEPER JOURNEY
Practicum Elements
Each one of the five elements is valuable practice in itself. When combined, it is a powerful experience.
Review/Reflection on calling:
All participants in this Practicum have been through the Issachar program, Called to Govern (C2G). A review exercise will be provided for you to help you as you reflect back on your C2G experience. The practice of an annual review of your calling can serve as an anchor in your life, trusting the Lord on how he spoke to you during C2G. You will have the opportunity to share the outcomes with your accountability partners after your personal review exercise.
Focus Area:
This Practicum element is the core of the experience. It is an opportunity for you to make decisions, design a plan, take steps forward on one practice or issue in your life. For example, you may consider:
· Attending to a gap in my personal or leadership life
· Establishing a new (or neglected) healthy rhythm in your life
· Dedicating time and attention on a priority that is being neglected, unattended
Many of you may enter the Practicum already having some sense of what the Lord wants you to focus on. Others will be guided through a process to determine what that Focus Area will be. You will also have the opportunity to get assistance from your AP partners, if needed, in nailing down your practice or issue that you will concentrate on.
There will be a mid-point review with your AP partners in January where you will have the opportunity select a second Focus Area. If you have seen the progress you were looking for, great, move onto a second one for the second half of the Practicum. However, the goal is not whether you work on one or two areas but rather that you find success (growth and progress).
Looking Back/Looking Ahead:
To look back on our past year and to seek the Lord on the coming year is a practice that takes discipline. Most of us like the idea but rarely practice it. We utilize a practice called Re-visioning – a 13 step guide to step us through the process of seeking the Lord for his clear vision for our life and ministry.
Don’t think strategic plan, but rather an earnest seeking of the Lord for his will in our lives.
This is the second anchor element of the Practicum. It is a practice of dropping your anchor for a day (or two), to earnestly seek the Lord for his guidance and vision before setting sail again. Just like the annual practice of reviewing your calling, the outcomes of Re-visioning will be very valuable to keep close at hand to look back on during the year to keep you grounded (anchored) in the various ways that the Lord spoke to you.
There are four days in January to select from to complete the Re-visioning process. If you are a person who might struggle focusing well over an entire day, you can select to split it up into two half days.
Accountability:
Participants will recruit two people to walk with them during the Practicum. Although it is not a huge time commitment for those you select, it is a hugely significant. Many times, when we attempt steps of growth, we do it alone. We don’t include others for accountability, prayer, feedback, and often, we get nowhere, or if we do gain ground, it typically is short lived. It is the goal that all who participate experience how powerfuland effective it is to invite others to invest in this way during a specific season of our lives.
The proper selection of your Accountability and Prayer Partners (AP Partners) will be key to the success of your Practicum year. We will provide you with some simple guidance on this important selection decision. Your AP Partners will make an agreement to meet with you (in person or video call) on a monthly basis throughout the duration of the Practicum.
Silence and Solitude:
Some call this the “Practice of Presence” – very simply, practicing being present with our heavenly Father who loves us dearly. The Practicum will begin and end with a day set aside to be quiet with the Lord. Each day retreat (one in September and one in the spring) you will be provided a guide to utilize during the day. If you come knowing the Lord wants to take you in a different direction, that is perfectly fine. For some the agenda for the day retreats may be nothing more than taking in God’s beauty and resting.
September we will be at the Botanical Gardens and in late April/early May we will be at Mother Cabrini Shrine. There will be some time to meet some of those you are participating with, but most of the day you will be you and the Lord.
The Practicum is being jointly hosted. Denver Leadership Initiative and Issachar Center for Urban Leadership are partnering to lead this effort. Partnering, when God led, is a case where two are better than one. We are trusting God for exactly that – powerful moves of God.
Get In Touch
All Rights Reserved - Copyright 2024