New Coordinating Team for
Contemplative Outreach of New York City
After six years of acting as coordinator of Contemplative Outreach of New York City, I am stepping down. What does this mean for you? I am inviting you to consider taking a role in choosing a new coordinating team. Traditionally, the coordinating team would be composed of people from the New York City area. However, over the past sixteen months, our chapter has created a community that goes beyond local and geographical boundaries. Many of our committed members and many of you who are reading this are not from the New York City area, yet you are also a vital part of our community. Whether you would like to strengthen and support our local New York City chapter or play a role in a wider, virtual community, you may have something very important to offer.
Do you feel that you have a role to play in choosing the new coordinating team? Do you feel a mysterious nudge that you can't explain to become more involved in some way? Leadership can be an act of great simplicity and humility that can enable the Spirit to take you to the next step on your path.
We are hoping to create a team of people who will have well-defined, manageable roles and who will work together guided by prayer and the Spirit. Marie Howard, the Coordinator of Volunteers for Contemplative Outreach, will lead us in a discernment process of careful listening that has helped many other chapters to choose a new team.
Will you bring your good listening ears and your love of Centering Prayer and our community to help us in this process? We will be meeting by Zoom on two dates: Saturday, August 21 from 2 to 4 pm Eastern Time and Saturday, September 4 from 2 to 4 pm Eastern Time. Please contact me at lindsay@lindsayboyer.com to RSVP.
Frequently Asked Questions
In response to the invitation to discern a new coordinating team, I am starting to receive some questions from you and I will try to answer some of them briefly here.
Part of the answer is that I don't have the answers! We will discern together on August 21st and September 4th to determine how the roles of the coordinating team should be filled. I will be a participant but will not be facilitating the process. Marie Howard, who has worked very closely with Thomas Keating in developing the discernment process that we will use, will be our facilitator, listening very closely to what you have to say. The answers will come out of our deep listening together.
What kind of help is needed?
First and foremost, help is needed with the discernment process itself, to listen together and make decisions about who is called to the coordinating team and how the coordinating team should be structured. There are some precedents for how the team should be structured (see below.) However, since our chapter will be a pioneer in considering ways to integrate members who are part of our community and yet not necessarily from the New York City area, we will be considering questions that have no precedent.
Will a board or team replace the role of coordinator?
Yes, we will be putting a coordinating team in place. We are hoping to create a team of people who will have well-defined, manageable roles and who will work together guided by prayer and the Spirit. Our hope is that no one person will bear too much of the responsibility.
What are the specific duties of the coordinating team?
One of the principles that will be guiding us is that while each member of the team is equal in value, each has a different role to play and contribution to make. Thus, the contributions of the team will be guided to some degree by their own experience and talents.
The following areas of service make up a coordinating team, along with a team leader and three or four additional team members, (to be determined as needed by our chapter):
• Communications: (Computer skills needed) Database, Publicity, Newsletter, Website (2 or 3 persons).
• Introductory Program: Includes the Introduction to CP and the 4-6 continuing follow up sessions by scheduling, assisting the local hosting site, assigning presenters. Need 3-4 members in addition to leader.
• Silent Saturdays/Day Retreats or Events: (i.e. United in Prayer) Need 3-4 members in addition to leader.
• Facilitator Enrichment and Support: Includes identifying facilitators from the on-going CP groups in the Area and providing support and enrichment from the many resources available; see Volunteer Services. Need 3-4 members in addition to leader.
• Coordinator: Includes overseeing the teams like a coach, plans/facilitates the coordinating team meetings, and allows his/her name listed on the COL website.
• Finances: In the beginning, the finances may be handled by the coordinator until there is need to discern a financial team.
• In addition, since our Tuesday and Wednesday night Zoom groups have a mailing list of over 250 people and their own newsletter, we might consider creating a team for this as well. We might also explore whether our chapter requires a team representing those who can live anywhere, including outside of the New York City area.
What will your role be going forward?
I am stepping down and need to hand over most of my responsibilities for health reasons as well. But I am not going anywhere and I will be available to help train people to take over some of these duties, to consult on how things have been done in the past, and to do some teaching and facilitation. I love working as part of a team and hope to play a role in this team effort!
If these questions are of burning interest to you, perhaps it is a sign that you are called to be involved in our discernment process. Come and see!
Notes from our first meeting on August 21st 2021.
Video by Frederick Laloux that discusses how to move from a hierarchical model to operating as a coordinating team that shares responsibilities.