Beginning last February, RenewalWorks worked with St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, TN. We started with a vestry retreat focused on spiritual leadership and then the entire church underwent RenewalWorks. Below is a reflection from Phyllis Thompson, the RenewalWorks co-facilitator, reflecting on this experience.

When I approached my Rector in the Fall of 2025 asking, “When are we going to do a Bible study?” I had no idea what the Holy Spirit had in store for me. My Rector shared the RenewalWorks website with me that day and asked if my husband was looking for a way to get involved. Months later, I was assisting my husband with RenewalWorks, first as administrative help and later as a full-fledged co-facilitator. As I worked through the faciliator’s guide with my husband, I could see how the RenewalWorks process would benefit his, mine, and our entire congregation’s spiritual growth. It was both exciting, overwhelming, and intensely personal.

Our only struggle was with time management and sticking to the script to ensure we finished within the time frame allotted for the entire program. Without question, each person in our workshop team expressed a desire for “more time.” Why? Because it is a well-designed program that generates thought-provoking discussion. One of our work-shop members commented at the end, “I’ve been going to church with most of these people on our team for 20+ years, and I thought I knew them. I had no idea what I didn’t know until we had time to discuss these issues openly.”

We are now in the process of implementing the changes we desired to spur spiritual growth in our “complacent church.” One of the exercises the workshop team undertook was adapted so that our entire church was invited to do the same during our Rally Day event in September. It was amazing to see the rapt attention paid during the instructions and then how genuinely each parishioner applied their efforts in determining “where they give their heart” and “where they want to know/grow more” in Episcopal Beliefs and Practices.

Similarly, our Daughters of the King Chapter went on retreat at St. Mary’s Sewanee a week ago. I had an opportunity to present the Spiritual Life-Line Exercise and tie it to our vow of evangelism, our retreat theme, “Be Still,” and scripture from Mark 4: 35-39. One of the most impactful things we learned during our workshop time was the importance scripture has on spiritual growth. We had a full hour and forty-five minutes for each Daughter to reflect on her life with God and share with two different groupings of Daughters, apply it to scripture and then share what they learned about their spiritual growth and what they learned about others' growth over time. There were tears, laughter, listening, and hugs. Most everyone commented about wanting to have more of these types of exercises. Another wonderful comment that warrants further exploration is why we can’t do this exercise in a more mixed-age grouping? How much more could someone 20 years younger understand about how God works over time in someone’s life from the sharing this exercise produces?

As a parish, we are just beginning to study The Path, and our adult Sunday school class is bursting at the seam in attendance. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to move through this process and touch those hearts who have long been in attendance, but who have been reluctant to be moved beyond Sunday attendance.

Having a background as a middle-school teacher was immensely helpful as we prepared for our presentations. I would encourage other teachers in your midst to be open to God using your gifts and skills within your church home. Don’t let the frustration of “workshop time” limit how you can envision seeing this program being applied in other areas of your church and with the time you set for it to be successful in those different settings.

Phyllis Thompson, RenewalWorks co-facilitator, St Paul's Episcopal Church, Franklin, TN