Tune in to take a journey into the life of the Good Shepherd's Contemplative and Developmental Parish.

“Contemplation is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant Source.” (Thomas Merton) Contemplation is experienced as union with God in love and comes only as gift. That is, one can’t make it happen through one’s own effort. Contemplation is a gift that God alone can give. We can, however, assume an inner stance that makes us vulnerable to reception of the gift. Furthermore we can cultivate an environment at our church in which people are encouraged and nurtured in a rhythm of life that acknowledges that contemplation is a theological reality that we can open ourselves to receive. At Good Shepherd we garden for contemplation. Developmental philosophy acknowledges that culture and consciousness evolve. The culture wars are weighing down the human community right now and have lots of people tangled up in argument and acrimony.

Developmental theory helps us see culture and consciousness through a new lens. The developmental (often referred to as integral) perspective is a framework for identifying and appreciating both the gifts and the challenges of the traditional, modern, and progressive stages of consciousness. The developmental church sees and celebrates the diversity of values and views among the members of our church. At Good Shepherd we "garden for emergence.”