Renewing Our Minds Gathering 2010This summer Dr Scott Boldt, through the work of the Edgehill Reconciliation Programme, revisited Croatia to take part in the twelfth Renewing Our Minds, or ROM gathering as a speaker, mentor, facilitator and participant.
A range of countries were represented in the eclectic gathering representing diverse religious backgrounds ranging from Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical Christian as well as Muslim, Jews and people who describe themselves as atheist or no longer attending a Church.
The ROM Gathering is a journey focusing on Reconciliation and Leadership Development. The teaching methods are interactive and relational, and they include interactive lectures, workshops, dialogue forums, small group activities, outdoor team building activities, study trips, excursions, role reversal exercises, group and individual mentoring and counseling, sports and entertainment.
Please find below a selection of blogs from the gathering this year. More can be found
here.
ROM Gathering - Mission and Action
Mission and Action represent the closing stage of the ROM Gathering (Monday 2/8 – Wednesday 4/8/2010). Participants are encouraged to reflect on what they have gained in the previous two weeks. They are encouraged to look towards transforming their visions into action in their countries and communities. During the Mission and Vision stage workshops providing some useful tools play a very important role in encouraging ROM participants to serve their communities. Some of the workshops this summer were: Developing Healthy Interpersonal Relationships (Mihaela Kovacs); Stability with the Focus on Personal Finances (Zeljko Puja); How People Learn (Scott Boldt); Understanding Yourself and Your Neighbor (Martha S. Weiss); Let’s Talk about Forgiveness (Allen Belton); Dealing with Loss (Brett McMichael); Making Your Personal Plan (Leo van Doesburg); and Developing Mentoring and Internship Programs (Samuil Petrovski).
ROM 2010 in Progress - Challenge and Purpose
We have by now passed stage two and three on the journey called ROM Gathering 2010. Challenge (stage 2) has been always the most challenging stage of the ROM Gathering (Friday 23/7 – Wednesday 28/7). It is designed to lead participants to assess the painful realities of individual and societal hurts of the communities we are all coming from. The targeted issues are wars, ethnic and religious nationalism, racism, poverty, dysfunctional environments and personal hurts. The objective of this stage of ROM Gathering 2010 is to lead the participants to emotional and spiritual healing and restoration. As a part of the process participants are encouraged to share their own hurts, and to develop a attitude of empathy towards the hurts of others, especially those on the other side of ethnic, racial or religious divide. The tag lines for the Reconciliation and Healing stage are – conflict resolution, identity, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, peace and social justice.
PURPOSE is the name for the third stage of the ROM Gathering 2010 (Thursday 29/7 – Sunday 1/8), when ROM participants are encouraged to discover their purpose, calling and vision for service in their countries and communities. The emphasis is on leadership of integrity, sacrificial service and the features of leadership modeled by the example of Jesus of Nazareth. The tag lines for the New Paradigm for Leadership stage are – purpose, calling, vision, integrity and leadership of service.
Meet the Speakers - Scott Boldt 
Scott Boldt has been the Director of the Edgehill Theological College Reconciliation Programme in Belfast since 2006. He is currently chairperson of the All-Ireland Churches' Consultative Meeting on Racism, as well as of EMBRACE, a voluntary group of Christians from across denominations, serving churches to make Northern Ireland a more welcoming community. Most of his working career has focused on education: teaching, setting up initiatives, researching and writing books. With his wife Hillary they have two young children - Christopher and Sophie.
ROM Gathering 2010 in FuzineRenewing Our Minds, or ROM for short, a Southeast European initiative of change with the vision of transformed leadership, inspired by the character and teachings of Jesus Christ, has by now completed its first stage - Embrace.
ROM's mission is to develop leaders of integrity, committed to reconciliation, peace-building and healing social action; leaders who, renewed in their minds, characters, attitudes and actions in the likeness of Jesus, are steadily transforming their constituencies, communities and countries. In short, ROM is about a community of Jesus’ followers building for the Kingdom of God through reconciliation, leadership of service and friendship. ROM Gathering implements tools such as ¬ lecture and presentation sessions, preferably interactive (we encourage creative use of drama, music, video clips, power-point presentations, handouts, illustrative exercises and other forms of interactions between speakers and participants during the sessions); café dialogues, forums and workshops; exercises and games with a purpose; small groups; drama, acting, music, movie nights and entertainment events; community service; and inspirational events.
During the EMBRACE stage of the gathering the entire leadership team and all facilitators, by their actions of loving service, have demonstrated to the new participants that they are loved, accepted and safe in the new environment regardless of their national, ethnic, racial or religious backgrounds. These are also the days when Jesus of Nazareth and his message of love for God and fellow neighbor are introduced. By the end of the Embrace stage the participants have gained a glimpse of what an inclusive and loving community looks like when gathered around the person of Jesus. By now, together we have built a community of people ready to hear each other stories with respect and a spirit of empathy, and are ready to move on into the second stage of our journey, known as Challenge.
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