Rachel Boehm Van Harmelen
October 2005
Today, many North Americans are making a pilgrimage to Scotland. They’re not going to flesh out their family trees, although many can trace their ancestry to those who were evicted from traditional lands there in the early to mid 1800s. Instead of ancestral roots, these pilgrims are seeking spiritual roots. Their destination: the island of Iona, where, in 563, St. Columba founded a Celtic monastery that was very influential in its day. Iona has a rich spiritual heritage; in the Middle Ages a Benedictine Abbey flourished there, drawing pilgrims from near and far.
Rev. Tom Bomhof, pastor of Fleetwood Christian Reformed Church (CRC) in Surrey, British Columbia, leads a peer learning group whose were among Iona’s recent pilgrims. The group, which received its first-year funding from the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Program through Lilly Endowment Inc., was formed in 2003 to help pastors learn to more effectively integrate worship and social justice in today’s changing, post modern society.
Early on, Bomhof and his colleagues heard about how the religious community on the Scottish island of Iona had been wrestling with questions similar to those that formed the basis of their peer learning group’s objectives. “So we set the goal of going to Iona,” says Bomhof. “We wanted to experience how Christians in the Iona Community integrate worship and justice in a setting that is rich in history.”
The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by the Rev. George MacLeod on the site of the original medieval Abbey, offers a retreat-like experience encompassing fellowship, prayer, study and reflection in a setting of immense natural beauty. “We were refreshed and inspired by the Iona Community and by the island of Iona,” says Bomhof. “The worship, the walking, the workshops were all good for us. We developed a bond between us that can only come from a shared experience like travelling to Iona.”
Members of the peer learning group came home eager to put what they had learned into action. “We are creating different ways of integrating worship and social justice,” Bomhof says. “Some of us are getting more involved in local community issues such as homelessness, hunger, crime and youth. We are motivating our members to become more involved in these issues, too. Some in our group are doing innovative things in worship, such as creating a special altar during Advent for prayers that address social issues.” Iona and the lessons learned there have helped these pastors and their churches more fully integrate justice in their church’s ministry and outreach, says Bomhof. One example is a church that has begun a building process by consulting with local leaders and organizations to ensure their new church home will serve the community effectively.
Their shared memories of Iona continue to bind these pastors together, but the group isn’t living in the past. They meet regularly to discuss books they have read, enjoying lively discussions and keeping up to date on joys and challenges in their personal lives and church ministries. Their future plans include visiting a local congregation that is post modern in its approach to ministry.
Bomhof encourages other pastors to get involved in a peer learning group. A pilgrimage to Iona may not be possible for everyone, but meeting together regularly to learn form and encourage one another is “inspiring in ways you can’t imagine,” Bomhof says. “You can pursue some important learning goals and address important issues that sometimes get overlooked in the everyday work of ministry.”
