Update from our Spiritual Leader

By Rev. Dr. Kenn Gordon

Sharing Our Message with the World
“You are magnificent. You are perfect. I believe in you.” The world needs to hear these messages more than ever today. That’s why I just completed filming a series of videos at home office in which I discuss what Science of Mind is and how individuals can use it to craft a life of purpose and passion.

I was also filmed delivering three treatments on the topics of love, financial flow, and well being. In addition to these videos being available on the CSL.org website, they will be available to our centers to use in whatever capacity works best for them.

Science of Mind gives individuals the tools they need to cocreate a magnificent life, and in turn, a magnificent world. How are you sharing your magnificence with the world? We must work together to let people know about this great philosophy. It is only when each of us recognizes who we truly are that we can cocreate a world that works for everyone and all living creatures.

Blessings,
Dr. Kenn Gordon

Read Dr. Kenn’s weekly blogs on Principles of Spiritual Living on Patheos.com.

Update from our President

By Rev. Dr. John B. Waterhouse

Where We Are Headed

As we make final preparations for our 2014 convention, we look forward with clear intentions to creating an organization and worldwide spiritual movement that delivers our teachings and models our principles more effectively than ever before. We seek to develop a new design for the future through the work of our Growth and Development Commission initiatives. Our Leadership Council has set forth a slate of priorities that, on the surface, may look much like priorities of the past, but we now explore them with new eyes and a fervent desire to break new ground.

Here is a brief look at each priority:

Youth: For Centers for Spiritual Living to touch the greatest number of lives and to continue as a vibrant movement, we must provide spiritual education and programs to youth and families in a much more complete and far-reaching manner. We can accomplish this by developing more Science of Mind schools, expanding our youth camps and other programs on a regional basis, developing more family-friendly programs for our centers, and using technology to more fully engage our youth. 

Education: The expansion of our teaching is directly influenced by how we provide educational opportunities to those who seek to become ministers and practitioners in shorter timeframes and through more concentrated learning methodologies. Our offerings must also provide a broader array of educational offerings to those who seek personal enrichment rather than a professional path. Use of current technologies will be fundamental as online education reaches far greater numbers of people.

Technology: In recognizing that technology is crucial to all aspects of our business model, the Growth and Development Commission acknowledges that our current use of technology is less than cutting edge. Because effective use of technology can alleviate the dependence on staff resources and increase our operational efficiency in a variety of areas, the commission has set aggressive goals for the use and implementation of technology. With this intention, Centers for Spiritual Living is poised to become a leader in the field of technology rather than a follower.

Communications: A variety of business functions comes under the rubric of “communications,” much of which overlaps with technology as the primary delivery mechanism of communications, both internally and externally. On the internal side, the commission envisions communications becoming more effective between Home Office and our member communities, and also being a way for ministers, practitioners, and laity to network and share information. Externally, communications will provide Centers for Spiritual Living with a greater marketing presence to disseminate our brand and message.

Practitioner and Ministerial Licensing: Our current method of licensing ministers and practitioners is not designed for dynamic growth and organizational expansion. A totally new design is called for, so we begin the conversation of creating a new way of identifying and supporting the professional pursuits of our ministers and practitioners.

Prosperity: We envision an organization in 20 years with a $40 million dollar annual budget, healthy reserves, and free of any unsecured debt. Simultaneously, The Science of Mind Foundation will grow into stewardship of more than $100 million with individual communities having endowments that exceed $1 million each. Our intention is for Centers for Spiritual Living and all of our member communities to practice an 80/10/10 policy with 80 percent of revenue for operations, 10 percent for tithing, and 10 percent for savings.

Diversity: Centers for Spiritual Living touching the greatest number of lives will require the inclusion of people from a variety of ethnic and racial groups, genders, relational orientations, and other areas of diversity. This will involve high consciousness within leadership around diversity matters, and a leadership team comprised of the diversity it wishes to create. It will also require the consideration of diversity in all of its activities, employment practices, and events to ensure that its efforts are welcoming and engaging across a spectrum of thought and background.

Expansion: The expansion of Centers for Spiritual Living must be globally focused both internally and externally. Our vision is to expand our presence throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa with over 1,000 communities worldwide. We seek to establish a spiritual community planting plan that will provide opportunities for thousands of ministers, practitioners, and lay leaders to create burgeoning new communities. We also seek to create new forms of ministry that resonate with current social media trends.

The future looks bright as we embark on new ways of creating a world that works for everyone!

So many blessings!
Dr. John

Member Support & Education Update

By Rev. Gregory Toole, Director

New Name for Ministerial Training

“Centers for Spiritual Living School of Spiritual Leadership” is the new name to refer to the place where ministers are trained. At its meeting on January 8, 2014, the Leadership Council approved this name-change recommendation from the Education Committee, with support from the Deans of Holmes Institute. Initial thinking about a change to the name was prompted by the following factors:

• Our accreditation requires that “Holmes Institute” only include the program that constitutes the distance education master’s degree.
• The Growth and Development Commission as well as the Leadership Council envision the master’s degree as decoupled from ministerial training.
• The new name reflects the newness of our organization.
• The new name is descriptive and easily understandable.
• The change paves the way to eventually offer the accredited master’s degree from Holmes Institute to laity, practitioners, and currently licensed ministers, thus substantially expanding the availability of the program, and addressing the many requests for additional continuing education.
• The name works well in our communities globally, in addition to our communities in the U.S. and Canada.

Those who complete the ministerial training program within the School of Spiritual Leadership will continue to be referred to as ministers. In addition, the school will expand its vision to offer leadership training to lay persons as well as licensed practitioners.

The coursework and other requirements for being a minister are not changing with this name change, and students entering the ministerial training program with an accredited bachelor’s degree will still be eligible to earn a master’s degree through Holmes Institute.

All references in our governing documents that refer to Holmes Institute as the place where ministers are trained will instead refer to Centers for Spiritual Living School of Spiritual Leadership.

Diversity Commission – Promoting A Welcome Place For All
The Centers for Spiritual Living Diversity Commission has trained a group of excellent individuals to assist communities that desire to expand their diversity.

Diversity and inclusion are important topics in our 21st century world. We now live in a global village where more and more parts of the world are accessible to each other. As the world's demographics shift, there is a greater need to skillfully handle diversity and our philosophy of Oneness simultaneously. In response to our changing world and in alignment with our goals of growth and development, this new training is being offered to our centers.

Diversity may bring challenges. However, inclusion of all people provides many advantages. “What We Believe” written by Ernest Holmes in 1927 states, “We believe in the individualization of the Spirit in Us, and that all people are individualizations of the One Spirit.”  Embracing diversity is deeply embedded in our teachings. For Centers for Spiritual Living to touch the greatest number of lives, it will need to attract populations from a variety of ethnic and racial groups, genders, sexual orientations, and other areas of diversity. Centers that embrace diversity and inclusion are likely to experience growth and additional vitality.

The Diversity Commission’s intent is to assist the larger community in the application of Dr. Holmes’ teachings, promoting a welcome place for all. We encourage all centers to fully participate in our dynamic training. Let us join together in creating a world that works for all.

More information on how to request training at your center will be sent in a separate communication. The chair of the Diversity Commission is D. Jacquelyn Edwards, RScP (djacquelyn@gmail.com).

Love & blessings,
Rev. Gregory

Youth Department Update – Become a Certified Teen Advisor! Sign up now for webinar training in March.

Operations Update

By Steve Burton, Director

2014 Slate of Candidates
When you read this Monthly Update we will be days from the Annual Business Meeting in Orlando, Fla. This year we have 26 candidates for 10 positions. Here are the candidates in alphabetical order:

President:
Rev. Dr. Petra Weldes
Rev. Dr. John Waterhouse

Leadership Council:

Minister:
Rev. David Alexander
Rev. Molly Cameron
Rev. Lawrence DeRusha
Rev. Wesley Kramer
Rev. Dr. Gale Stewart

Practitioner:
Don Myers, RScP
Juliet Vorster, RScP

Laity:
Jacqueline Martin
Geoffrey Sindon

Minister Council:
Rev. Eileen Brownell
Rev. Sunshine Daye
Rev. Lynne Galli
Rev. Michele Synegal
Rev. Dr. Harry Morgan Moses
Rev. Angelica Jayne Taggart

Practitioner Council:
Linda Jackson, RScP
Rosedale Jones, RScP
Charlie Sheppard, RScP

Laity Council:
Malika Coykendall
Neil Williams
Neil Pinkman
Shameeka Smalling

Centers for Spiritual Living is blessed to have a wonderful field of candidates. You can learn more about each person by visiting our website at: spiritualconvention.csl.org/index.php/business-meetings/conference-calls.html. From here you can also listen to the candidate forum calls that took place over the last four Thursday evenings.

All voting is online this year and the business meeting can be seen online with live streaming.

Blessings,
Steve

Communications Update

By Rev. Judy Morley, Ph.D, Director

Save the Dates! Centers for Spiritual Living is proud to be a sponsor of the Awakened World International Film Festival, October 27-30, 2014. Watch for more information at csl.org or www.agnt.org/awfilmfest.

Looking for Something on the Website?
If it’s applicable to all Centers for Spiritual Living, it will be on the “Internal Website.” This is an archive site, and has documents and materials that are used by all our communities. This is where you can find information on branding, marketing, curriculum, youth programs, new ministry applications, and a host of other resources. To access this site, you can log in at the bottom of the home page at csl.org. There are different levels of access for ministers, practitioners, and laity, but each of those categories has a generic password. For example, the user name for laity is “member,” and the password is “Holmes” (case sensitive).

If you’re looking for information that’s unique to you as an individual or center, it is in Net Community. To access Net Community, click on the tab on the left of the home page at csl.org, and then enter your unique user name and password. This takes you directly into our database and allows you to update your personal information, renew your practitioner or ministerial license, or fill out information regarding your community.

If you have any questions about where to find a document or other information, you may contact me at jmorley@csl.org.    

How does Home Office communicate with you?
The primary way that Home Office communicates to the field is through Net Community. This method takes email addresses from our database and sends information directly to your inbox. This is one-way communication, and you can identify these emails because the sender is identified as “Home Office.” For ministers and practitioners, this is the only way we communicate important information, such as licensing renewal requirements, policy changes, and organizational updates. Although there is an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the page, if you unsubscribe from this email, you will be completely removed from all communications from Home Office.

For ministers and practitioners, there is a second communication format, and that is the Google Group. This is a chat format, and consequently is interactive. The Google Group is completely optional, and anyone of the appropriate standing (i.e. minister or practitioner) may join or unsubscribe from his/her particular Google Group at any time.

Love & blessings,
Judy

Convention News – More rooms available at Coronado Springs Resort. Plus, Day Passes available at the convention.

Publishing News – New Editorial Team at Science of Mind. Plus, advertising discounts, Creative Thought is going color, free subscriptions for new members, the latest from Park Point Press, and research study from Creative Thought – respond immediately and you may win a free one-year subscription.

Let’s stay in touch!
Follow us on Facebook:

Centers for Spiritual Living

You’ll find inspiration, updates and pictures about community events such as World Day of Service, information about our Spiritual Living convention and more!

Science of Mind magazine

Featuring daily affirmations, prayers, and highlights from each month’s issue.

Creative Thought magazine

The only magazine for and by Religious Scientists.

Science of Mind Archives and Library Foundation

The archives contain a magnificent collection of historical New Thought items including radio talks, videos, and class and lecture tapes from Dr. Ernest Holmes.

World Ministry of Prayer

Offering life-changing affirmative prayer for people of all faiths