Prayer Mailing List: support M'Kenna Gillespie's ministry residency at St. Anselm London under the Archbishop of Canterbury

[Kelly Holland (kelly.holland54]

Dear Friends,

Many of you know M’Kenna from her days in Junior High and High School at Irion 
County. After Graduation, she attended Tarleton and then answered a call to 
ministry and is currently pursueing her Masters of Divinity at Asbury 
Theological Seminary in Kentucky.

Now M’Kenna has been chosen out of hundreds of applicants from around the world 
to spend ten months as a resident of the Community of St. Anselm in London, 
England.  This September, she will be joining fifteen other residential 
members, aged 20-35 from around the world, in a monastic lifestyle under the 
leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and his staff.  The 
group will reside in the Archbishop’s residence, Lambeth Palace, where they 
will be asked to leave behind the normal routines of life and become 
uncomfortably stretched in mind, body, and spirit.

The goal of this community is to learn to live a simpler life and to make room 
for God’s Word to foster a growth in grace that will enable her to embody and 
abide in Christ’s love throughout the rest of her life and ministry.  Through 
this, she will engage in worship three times a day, immerse herself in 
individual and communal prayer, practice silence and meditation upon Scripture, 
invest in communal Bible study and group discussions, actively serve the 
surrounding neighborhood, limit involvement with technology, and embrace one 
another in community as people seeking to develop and deepen their 
relationships with God and one another.
That said, along with the many other sacrifices the Community of St Anselm 
requires, the leaders of the community have requested a financial sacrifice of 
$20,000 as well.  This sum does not include airfare or visa costs, but does go 
towards living expenses, books, travel expenses within the UK, etc.  This is no 
small sum for a graduate student.
Our church has supported M’Kenna through her mission work in other countries 
and encouraged her call to ministry for many years. She remains one of our own!
Please, prayerfully consider if you would like to donate. Donations can be made 
through the church and will be directed to M’Kenna.
Kelly Holland