Water in the Desert Minstries is honored to accept the trademark Worshipful-Work® and to continue the legacy of the worshipful-work ministry. Read on to learn more about the history of Worshipful-Work and what it means for you and your church.

THE HISTORY OF WORSHIPFUL-WORK
WORSHIPFUL-WORK grew out of the learnings and experiences of the Set Apart Lay Leader Project, a four-year ecumenical effort ('91-'94) aimed at the development and revitalization of church boards/councils via the integration of spirituality and administration. The Project, enabled by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment and directed by Charles M. Olsen, involved lay and clergy participation from 20 churches across a broad ecumenical and cultural spectrum. It constructed a nationwide network of stakeholders through the process of inquiry and research. The Alban publication, Transforming Church Boards into Communties of Spiritual Leaders (which can be purchased on this website) by Dr. Charles M. Olsen, is based on the learnings of this project. The practices of worshipful-work continue to be used by many churches and organizations.

The organization, Worshipful-Work, was formed by Chuck Olsen in 1995 as a result of the Lilly funded project. He became the Director of the organization and was joined by Ellen Morseth, BVM, to provide the training, consulting, and resource ministry of Worshipful-Work. Communal spiritual discernment for church leadership became a focus of the ministry. Based at the Heartland Presbyterain Center, Worshipful-Work became an independent 505 (c) (3) organization in 1995 and later purchased "Gracious Space," accross the road from HPC, for an office and training facility. After Chuck's retirement in 2000, the Board of Discerning Overseers became a national board and formed a Leadership team to direct the ministry. They called Val Isenhower to coordinate their work as Coordinator of Ministry in 2001.

In July, 2002 the Board met and after a process of discernment decided to re-organize. Gracious Space was sold and staff positions were dissolved. The Board of Discerning Overseers continued to meet to discern the future of Worshipful-Work. They continued the work by acting as consultants and trainers in worshipul-work. In 2005 they gave a grant to Water in the Desert Ministries to revive and renew the School for Discernmentarians, which had been an important training event in corporate discernment offered by Worshipful-work. The board organized and offered a colloquium on discernment in July, 2006.

Following the colloquium, the Discerning Overseers entered an intense time of discernment to seek God's yearning for the future of the ministry. That discernment process led to the decision on June 30, 2007 to dissolved Worshipful-Work as a resourcing and programming entity. The legacy of the ministry as well as the trademark "worshipful-work" was passed onto Water in the Desert Ministries.

Water in the Desert Ministries has agreed to continue the ministry of worshipful-work. Judith and Val have had connections with Chuck and the Discerning Overseers for a long time. Water in the Desert Ministries pledges to continue and expand the cutting edge ministry which began in 1961.

Read on to learn more about how Worshipful-Work can make a difference for you and your church.