The tentative work plan is to continue the already-started repairs at Jacob’s Well by addressing exterior wall and roof moisture damage. Then, as time permits, we may also add an insulated ceiling to Jacob’s Well common room and kitchen; replace an (animal and rot damaged) wooden sliding glass door at the Center; and rebuild the (leaking) dormer at the Residence. Such repairs extend the life and ministry of Wellspring, where each year we walk together with seekers: deepening discipleship, building community, and listening for call.
Every gift to Wellspring will be more than matched by the volunteer time and skills that the Fagan’s work team will be giving. Please send your contributions to:
Wellspring, 11411 Neelsville Church Road, Germantown, MD 20876.
You may mark them for the “work team”.
To read Eric's letter to Wellspring please click
here.
"Bloom where you're planted,"
the thick, multicolored letters proclaimed as they stood out on the green
burlap hanging in the church hall of my childhood. I don't recall the occasion
- only that our family and others in the church created an array of banners
for all to see. I loved our chosen expression and can't help but think of
it now as I unpack my boxes yet one more time. Those who have helped me
move probably hope I will do just that, bloom certainly, but even more become
planted (or at least leave some books behind if I feel called to move again).
Over roughly the last ten years I've moved from Union Theological Seminary
in Richmond to the farmland expanses of the southwest Virginia hills to
serve as a pastor to New Dublin Presbyterian Church... to the inner city
of Adam's Morgan in Washington, DC for Church of the Savior's discipleship
year program where I served at Joseph House as "compassionate companion"
to those dying with AIDS. Now, I have come to Wellspring Retreat and Conference
Center situated amidst the suburbs of Germantown, MD. As I write, I sit
in Siloam Cabin nestled among hardwood and evergreen trees. No matter where
I find myself, the saying has remained with me long after the burlap has
faded: "Bloom where you're planted." Here and in other Church
of the Savior ministries we might say: "Bloom where you're called"
instead. And it's here in these cabins, on this land many have sensed a
new call or a new place of planting, or been renewed to live into a calling
already taking root, or caring for a call well worn.
What a blessing it is to be planted here, to walk the paths, worship in
the farmhouse with Dayspring Church, learn with others in the school of
Christian living, to care for the cabins where many of you have slept. I'm
exploring with the Wellspring Mission Group the shape an ongoing intern
position might take here. For the year I will involve myself in the life
and work of this community and see where our lessons might lead and just
what blooms might be found here.
Hope to see you at "the Well."
With A Grateful Heart,
Jean
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2010 Events at Wellspring!
March 19-21
Courageous Creating!
April 29 - May 2
Recovering from
Our Cultural Addictions (on location in the Berkshires)
May 21-23
"The Economy: A Higher Spiritual Consciousness
or Bust"
June 25-27
"Faith & Ecology"
July
Look for Peacemaking Event!
July 28-August
1
The Third Bi-annual
Praise, Paint and Play!
October
8-11
Prayer of Embodiment
October
21-24
World Within/World Without
Christmas/Epiphany: January
4-9
Lenten: February 22-24
Easter: May 17-19
Ordinary: September 13-15
Advent: December 6-8
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Thanks for helping us to care for our earth!
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Faith Lessons from the Life of Don McClanen
A newly released biography of Don McClanen, a principal founder of Wellspring, chronicles the events leading to the creation of our ministry here thirty-five years ago.
The book, Caution to the Wind: Faith Lessons from the Life of Don McClanen covers Don's founding of five major ministries beginning with the national Fellowship of Christian Athletes. After leaving FCA, Don came to the Washington, D.C. area in 1962 harboring the dream of a ministry that would introduce people acrosss the country to exciting Christian renewal movements after World War II that resembled "springs of water welling up into eternal life" (John 4:14). One of those movements was The Church of the Saviour in Washington, the small, vibrant and unusual church Don joined at the time.
Initially, Don failed to find others interested in such a ministry. The Church of the Saviour's pastor, Gordon Cosby, counseled him to place the vision aside for a time. Don spent 10 years as manager of Dayspring, a retreat farm that the church owned at Germantown, MD. But he never forgot his Wellspring vision. In early 1973, two other church members approached Don separately and unexpectedly abou the idea he had discussed with them years before, saying they were now ready to "give their lives" to such a ministry.
Don and the two, Pat Davis and David Dorsey, "sounded the call" for others to join the Wellspring ministry at a Church of the Saviour service in February 1973. Ten people responded. The group initially held its weekly two-hour devotional and planning meetings at 5 a.m., a time Don adopted because of everyone's busy schedules but also to discourage half-hearted participation. The group refined its purpose to that of introducing people across the country to The Church of the Saviour's unique approach to Christian discipleship, with required daily disciplines of devotional reading and prayer - the "inward journey," the "outward journey" - through which members tackled social issues such as poverty, racism, homelessness and addiction, all lived out in a committed Christian community of accountability and support.
The group held its first "Wellspring Orientation" in October 1973, a weekend immersion into the life of the Church of the Saviour. Twelve people from acrosss the country came after writing spiritual autobiographies and reading assigned books. They shared about their lives, were introduced to the discipline of silence and visited several Church of the Saviour missions. Several later testified that the weekend changed their lives, giving them a new and powerful sense of what church could be.
At the same time, Don secured grants, donations and loans totaling several hurdred thousand dollars to build the Wellspring Center, a conference facility at Germantown, Md., where Wellspring events could be held.
Within two years, Wellspring mission group members led one event per month at Germantown and other locations across the country. The ministry also offered a three-year "covenant partners" program in which pastors reported to a Wellspring spiritual director for three years and returned for Wellspring events several times a year to fully absorb The Church of the Saviour's approach to ministry.
In 1975, a seven-day silent retreat moved Don in a different direction. During the silence his mind kept returning to the issues of money, sex and anger. Afterward, a nun told him, "You're contemporizing the old monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience." That insight inspired Don to organize Wellspring events highlighting those topics. He soon narrowed his focus to money, and Ministry of Money was born - an outreach under Wellspring's umbrealla that explored the relationship between faith and material possessions. In 1981, Ministry of Money separated from Wellspring and became its own separate entity. Don remained head of Ministry of Money for 25 years, until 1999. Ministry of Money, like Wellspring, continues its vital work today.
In addition to chronicling the details of Don's often-adventurous life, Caution to the Wind includes reflections of Christian traits and concepts that were crucial to his life, such as boldness, authenticity, calling, spiritual growth, friendship giving and identification with the poor.
The book, written by former journalist Joe Murchison, is available online for $16 from Cross Training Publishing (www.crosstrainingpublishing.com), the Potter's House bookstore in Washington, D.C. (www.pottershousedc.org/bookstore), Amazon.com and FCA Gear (www.fcagear.com). All royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to ministries aiding the poor around the world with which Don has worked.
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