The theme which shapes Through the Eyes of Aidan and Wesley is missional leadership in the congregation. A missional leader envisions pastoral leadership as guiding a congregation into the world to share the gospel of Christ's transforming love. I long to be this kind of leader, but much of my seminary training and pastoral experience has been focused around institutional leadership: caring for the needs of an organization designed for existing members. Institutional leadership is increasingly ill?suited for reaching secular, post-modern, and socially marginalized people living outside the contemporary North American Church.

During my eight week sabbatical, I will enter a virtual apprenticeship with two exceptional missional leaders: St. Aidan, the 7th century Celtic bishop to the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria, and John Wesley, the 18th century leader of the Wesleyan Revival. I will encounter these leaders through a) a pilgrimage to St. Aidan's Northumbria and Wesley's London; b) study of the ideas of St. Aidan, Wesley and contemporary missional leaders; and c) field trips to places in my home parish to encounter the people my congregation and I are not currently reaching. I believe this blend of travel, study, and encounter will help me become the missional leader I long to be.