Dear friends and fellow-pilgrims, I’m genuinely excited to ask for your help to enable Coracle to grow in the coming year, but you’ll have to wait til the bottom of this letter for the details about that. There is just so much really good stuff to share first! After putting it all together this morning, I’m a bit overwhelmed at how much has happened through Coracle in 2013, and how much God has blessed this still young and still growing ministry of “Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action”.

Anyone who knows me knows that I shudder quite a bit at statistics as the critical indicator of value, but sometimes they do tell a helpful slice of a story. Here’s that slice. In 2013:

• 20 group retreats were held at Corhaven, drawing over 325 participants…
• Retreatants and guests spent the night at Corhaven more than 85 times…
• Beyond that, more than 60 days this past year saw other individuals or couples taking a day retreat at Corhaven…
• More than 40 people have been regularly receiving the ministry of spiritual direction, and more than that have benefitted from single spiritual direction sessions…
• We’ve grown to 6 spiritual directors and 3 associates….
• We’ve led retreats across the country from California to Pennsylvania to Baltimore to Texas, co-led a pilgrimage to Israel/Palestine, and blogged from Burma…
• We received official recognition from the IRS as a registered non-profit in almost record time, 3 months, in spite of agency scandals, backlog, and government shutdowns…
• And we had one wedding at Corhaven!

And anyone who knows me knows that what makes me most excited is seeing God meet people in the depths of their depths, and there’s been plenty of that this past year, it’s almost hard to believe, and there are too many stories to recount here. But here are a couple of reflections that are not that atypical.

• This from a missionary couple working in India who were at Corhaven for four days: “Corhaven, to me, is a place of respite. It’s the perfect place to retreat, to meet with God, and to hear solid encouragement and advice from wise people who have been in the trenches. There have been several times when life seemed to be too much, and Corhaven has provided the safe space for me to question, cry, laugh, meet with God, regroup and prepare to face life again. I deeply and sincerely love this place, and the people who are there to lead us. Thank you for providing this place for us.”
• And this from a young woman who was here for four hours: “I was really impacted by my experience at Corhaven, in a very positive way…My time at Corhaven was extremely precious and life-changing, and has helped mold my decisions…”

The way God is meeting people through this ministry is SO exciting! For all the times we’ve seen it and been amazed at what God does, we are not yet accustomed to how deeply he meets people through through Coracle.

We officially began this ministry in 2012, clear on a direction while not clear exactly on what would emerge, and now almost two years later we’ve been able to see what Coracle is actually doing in this early season of it’s journey. This past fall our board took up the question, “What needs is Coracle meeting?”, and now with some mileage behind us, that’s an easier question to answer. We are…

• Providing spiritual direction for those who don’t know where to get it, particularly from the evangelical community, often for clergy and other leaders;
• Providing a place at Corhaven to encounter God for those who wouldn’t otherwise know where to go, or for those for whom some guidance on retreat is needful;
• Introducing classic Christian spiritual practices to those with interest but without easy access or much exposure, and celebrating, exploring, and living the unity within the Great Tradition;
• Connecting contemplation and action and holding them inextricably together, and offering spiritual formation for ‘activists’ and for Christian ‘justice and mercy’ ministries;
• We are making a way for some individuals to more freely and broadly offer their gifts in the world.

Will you help us keep on doing this next year, and also grow in a couple of key ways? We’re going to keep on doing in 2014, and more so, what we’ve been doing but we’re also focusing on four key initiatives. 1) We plan on introducing a lecture series offered in northern Virginia covering some key topics four times throughout the year 2) I will be writing a book (finally!!) exploring the themes of ‘Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action’. Please pray for me! 3) We want to firm up and sharpen our relationship with 8 churches in NoVA and DC 4) Finally, and Lord willing, we’re going to work hard to get bathroom facilities on the Woodshop. If you’ve been out here, you know how important that is!

I’m so grateful that we’re ending 2013 on firm financial footing, thanks be to God and thanks be to many of you! We’re hoping that at this year’s end you will help Coracle be able to deepen and grow by contributing to next year’s budget. Our operating budget for 2014 is around $104,000. We expect that $44,000 will come in throughout the year through donations for individual and group retreats and spiritual direction, so we’re seeking to raise $60,000 to cover the rest of needs of the year’s ministry. Would you help another year happen with a generous year end gift? If you donate by December 31st, your gift will be doubled by a matching grant that we’ve received, up to $30,000! Friends, we can fund next year this year, and I hope you’ll help us do that. Thank you!

You can donate with a credit card by visiting our website and making a one time gift or sign up for a monthly donation, or you can write a check to “Coracle” and mail it to 2883 Quicksburg Road, Quicksburg VA, 22847. Your gifts are tax-deductible.

A dominant image for Coracle is that of journey. We’re pushing further out of the harbor now, setting our eyes towards the open sea to discover where God takes us, blown by the wind of the Spirit. It means so much to be together on the journey with you.

“Further up and further in!” Higher, Deeper, Farther, More! Thanks be to God….

 

 

 

 

 

Director of Coracle