Churches considering RenewalWorks often wonder how the initiative gets integrated into the larger church community upon completion of the formal process. This week Craig Hillemeier, Senior Warden at All Saint's Episcopal Church in Hershey, PA, reflects on how his church has begun implementing RenewalWorks into the broader parish community. All Saint's participated in the Winter 2025 RenewalWorks cohort. Craig's thoughts are below:

I would say RenewalWorks was a very positive experience, certainly for the people who made up the team and the facilitators.  With the exception of one person, the comments were all very positive with many noting it was the most spiritually enriching experience they have had.  From my own perspective I am somewhat concerned how the positive nature of the experience can be translated it into a similarly positive impact on the rest of the congregation.  I would imagine many have wondered how to transmit that feeling which the RenewalWorks workshop team experienced into something accessible to the entire congregation.  Obviously there was the 10 - 15 hours of teamwork that brings about a sense of investment and when attached to a spiritual component, the RenewalWorks experience becomes pretty powerful.  

In addition to the interim and final reports to the congregation we have had many table discussions during the fellowship time after the church service downstairs in the parish hall.  One thing that our Rector, Mother Anjel Scarborough, has instituted that I have found very successful is having members of the RenewalWorks team spend 2 - 3 minutes addressing the congregation after her homily.  During the stewardship drive for the last several years people have given testimonials regarding why they attend All Saints. This year she has steered it to a focus on the RenewalWorks program.  

One these last Sunday blew me away.  A parishioner talked about their lifelong pursuit (struggle) with perfectionism.  Her spirituality would clash with that need for perfectionism as life events (death, health, disappointment) would cause her assessment of her spirituality to wax and wane, falling short of her perceived goals.  The RenewalWorks process helped her understand that 3/4 of the parish was in the first two groups and that falling short is, if anything, part of the human condition. Perfectionism in spirituality is simply not possible. The opportunity to plot a way forward was very uplifting.  

As we go forward I think our plan will be for three of the RenewalWorks team members who have some sense of ownership for implementation will probably try to get the entire team together every three to four months to assess how we are doing.   At least from my own perspective, small steps with a consistent reassessment and calibration are the best path forward.