Creativity and Connection in a Time of Change: A Courage & Renewal Retreat for Authorized Ministers

“One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times.” (Clarissa Pinkola Estes)

As you look to 2025 you might be wondering how to cultivate creativity, community and love that has the power to sustain you. The task of leadership – in a variety of ministry contexts – calls on us to be grounded, connective and sturdy.

You are invited to join a cohort experience (January–June) with others seeking to be courageous and open hearted in this important time. Through a series of two on-site retreats (January/June) and monthly online peer calls, participants will be invited to reconnect with how their inner life of spirit and their public life of ministry grow together.

Who this is for:

All authorized clergy (congregational pastors, chaplains, and leaders in alternative settings. While sponsored by the Minnesota United Church of Christ, the series is open to authorized clergy of any denomination and in any region of the country.

Format of this series:

Opening Retreat: Souls on Deck
Monday afternoon – 3 p.m. until Wednesday lunch
January 6-8, 2025 | ARC Retreat Community, Stanchfield, MN

Monthly “Peer Learning Calls” – Crafting New Stories
Participants will be in monthly online small groups between retreats as participants share with each other and support each other through the use of deep listening and honest and open questions.

Closing Retreat: Celebrating The Stories That Guide US
September 8-9, 2025 | location TBD

Joining Rev. Winton Boyd, a Courage & Renewal Facilitator, will be:

Rev. Kelly J. Stone
Kelly Stone has served as the College Chaplain at Macalester College since 2014. Her ordained career in the UCC has been exclusively in higher education; serving at Wellesley College and Lakeland College. She believes that our primary human work should move us towards individual liberation and collective justice. For Kelly this means facilitating meaning making in the context of higher education, providing courageous interfaith leadership. Kelly’s full time jobs as a parent, partner and chaplain fill her days; in her spare time she is working on a D.Min at United Theological Seminary in Interreligious Chaplaincy.

Sara Thomsen
Sara grew up in South Dakota, surrounded by a family and community that loved to sing. From listening to her father sing lullabies and on-ward, Sara’s life has been infused with music. She is a staunch sup-porter of struggles for human dignity and ecological sustainability. In addition to her solo work, Sara is a weaver of song and community singing. At concerts, conferences, classrooms, workshops, retreats, jails, places of prayer, and lines of protest, to be with Sara is to want to sing. She has been a part of several MN UCC events over the last five years.