Dear Friends and Fellow Pilgrims,

At this year’s end, I’m truly excited to write to you again with a bit about where Coracle’s been this year, and more so where we are going.  I hope you’ll join with us, whether you live in the Washington DC area, in Baltimore, in the Shenandoah Valley, or anywhere in North America, or even anywhere on God’s good earth.

Our essential image–our name, our logo–is a coracle, a small boat enabling apprentices of Jesus to journey together with Jesus where Jesus leads, and we believe he is leading us clearly, and it is both exhilarating and intimidating.  We’d love to have your presence with us, we need your support to go there.  

This year-end we’re seeking to raise $210,000, and already we have $75K committed! We’re seeking to raise 15% of next year’s budget now because we’re excited about where God is leading us.  More on that below!

Save Wednesday, January 11 at 7pm EST for an in-person gathering in Arlington, VA (we’ll stream it too) for a lot more detail about where we are headed, why (biblically), and what your support will make possible.  Our ministry has experienced a lot of change this past year, and God has been so faithful!  We have continued to grow, and God has used Coracle to deeply touch and form the lives of many people.

One person wrote to me, “At a turning point in my life I needed a fresh view of God and faith and my entry into the world of Coracle was the entryway to that.” Another person wrote, “You all are doing important work in a magnificent way.” Another one said, “Coracle is a place where I can come to meet God and I have been met by God during my times with you. I hear the Lord speaking when I am with Coracle sojourners.” Another said, “Coracle is a trusted path through this wilderness of American evangelical life today.”

We’ll release our annual report soon with more testimonies and more stories from all our programs.  We are so very grateful to God and to you for what has happened in the past year, and the past 10 years.  Thank you!

.  .  .

Community, Mission, and Spaces.

Inasmuch as we’re amazed by the past, what’s coming is even more beautiful, by God’s grace.  You might recall that over the summer Coracle undertook a period of corporate discernment, listening together for God about where God might be leading the ministry.  Jesus feeding the 5,000 became an important story for us, and over that 40 days we believe God spoke, and in response, we are moving in the direction of Community, Mission, and Spaces. We’re going even deeper into “Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action”, enabling even more people to be the redemptive presence of God in this broken world.  While we’ll be keeping up with the things you’ve come to love that Coracle offers, we’re focusing our efforts on three areas and excitedly developing the partnerships.

• Community:  We will begin finding ways for people who want to grow deeper with God and mature in their life in God to do that together.  Drawing upon ancient wisdom that is made truly accessible in the modern world for normal people, we want to enable ourselves and others to follow Jesus more closely in the places God has put us, wherever that may be.
   
• Mission:  We will increase our offerings of ministries of formation and hospitality in a variety of forms for any who feel lost, are spiritually hungry or are in need of healing, and who are seeking deeper spiritual formation.  In ways to be discovered together, we will also seek to welcome, know, love, and serve those who have had to flee their home country or immigrated to Northern Virginia.
   
• Spaces: There are four:
  1) A ministry space in south Arlington, VA where a wide variety of ministries can be offered so that the love of Jesus can be experienced and God’s love tangibly shown.
  2) Corhaven will dramatically expand its ministry as an actual retreat center, significantly increasing its pastoral oversight and capacity for both individual spiritual retreats and group experiences.
  3) Coracle in Baltimore has expanded significantly and likely will continue to do so. We’ll shepherd that growth while listening for God’s further leading.
  4) Online we will continue to offer many opportunities for spiritual growth, learning, and encounters with God, streamlining them for greater coherence and making more things available virtually so that people literally anywhere can be blessed and formed.

.  .  .

The Next Journey

We’re calling this focus on Community, Mission, and Spaces as “The Next Journey” for Coracle.  Thematically, it is consistent with the past, continuing and increasing many of the ministries that have emerged over these past 10 years.  Now there will be some new forms and spaces to more clearly incarnate Coracle’s long-held themes of community, creating spaces, spiritual formation, and Kingdom action. There’s a lot more to share about The Next Journey, and a lot to unpack from when Jesus fed the 5,000 that connects to it. Again, stay tuned for more details about Wednesday evening, January 11 at 7pm EST.

Ways You Can Join Us.

We really need your financial support as we look into the next year. We hope to raise $210,000 at this year’s end to keep up with all our current ministries and move us strongly forward, and we’re already $75,000 towards that goal!

Can you help with a financial gift and/or would you support us in prayer?  Both matter.

Just as Coracle wants to steward well the vision and mission God has called us to, we also want to care well for the Coracle staff, those whom God has brought to Coracle as employees who love and serve Coracle’s expanding community. Our staff has grown this past year and will continue to grow in 2023, as will our need for a dedicated ministry space, to keep up with the vision.

Thank you in advance for your generosity, prayers, and participation!  And here’s to a new adventure with God in 2023!  I hope you’ll join us.