Model, Manual, Covenant…oh my!

I know that in our community we have heard these words countless number of times. I know (not just as a board member, but as community member 1 st) that these words can leave negative feelings with us. What do they really mean to us as a community and how do we know as community members that we are truly doing things the “Emmaus” way? How about this word “flavoring…what does this word mean and how does it affect us as community members? We, as a board and as a community have spent quite a bit of time discussing these issues over the past 5 years…. that is a long time and we can often wonder if we understand it any better now, then when we first started talking about being a “Model” community.

Each member of your active board has a book called an Emmaus Manual, it contains the following sections: ‘The Upper Room Handbook on Emmaus’; ‘Director Manual’; ‘Three-Day Schedule’ and ‘Talk Outlines’. Also attached to this manual is ‘The Upper Room Walk to Emmaus of Lynchburg/Central Virginia by Laws’, which all nonprofit organizations have to have. Nashville (this is where the headquarters of Upper room Emmaus is located) has a copy of these By Laws on file for our Emmaus community.

As your current board we have spent time over the last 6 months reading the manual. At the board meetings, a section of the manual is assigned to the Board members to read. We spend time at the board meetings discussing these sections and what we are currently doing in the community to ensure that we are keeping to the covenant that we signed in the being of the year. As a board we thank you for the trust that you have in us to ensure that we are following the rules and regulations. With all that said…

The model, manual, covenants, flavorings…. these are not “secret words” that only the board has privy to. Communication and honesty is the key in any organization to making people feel “apart” of and accepted. Do you want to know what the Emmaus Manual has to say? It is available for you to read! Contact me and I will get you a copy. When an individual is selected to be a Lay Director for an upcoming walk they are given a Lay Director manual which contains the ‘Director Manual’, ‘Three-Day Schedule’ and ‘Talk Outlines’, it is stressed to the Lay Director how important it is to read the Manual in full. Each walk has a Board Rep who is a silent observer to ensure that the manual is being followed and the integrity of Emmaus is kept. Also, each member of the team is issued a manual with information about the jobs that need to be preformed. It is everyone’s responsibility to stay informed and to ensure the integrity of The Walk to Emmaus, this thing we love so much.

Here is the truth of the matter, we are all human beings. Some times as a community we get into such a habit of doing something the same way that we believe that it’s the only way that something can be done. We might adopt this as the “model” when perhaps it really is just a flavoring of the Lay Director’s choice or someone’s opinion on how to do something. We, as human beings, are so afraid of change…we are creatures of habit. This does not just happen in Emmaus, but in churches, work and even in our own homes. My prayer, my hope is that each community member becomes informed, that we as a whole stay opened to new ideas, that we stay opened to change, that we learn to communicate in such a way that information is exchanged freely without the threat of hurt feelings. We learned in the talk ‘Changing Our World’ that change starts with us as individuals. I hope we keep that in our minds as we walk our 4 th days as a part of this Emmaus community.

If you have a question about how something is done, please do not hesitate to contact a board member or me. We want to hear from you. There is no “bad” question…you as community members are allowed to have questions and ask them. We want, as a board (and hopefully as a community), to insure the integrity of the Emmaus Weekends and community life. If a question about how we do something is asked, the 1 st thing I am going to do is look in the manual to find out why we do that thing. If the answer is found in the manual I will let you know where and why we do it. If I can’t find it in the manual I will then do some research as to why we started to do it. If it is a flavoring and a better way can be found to perform that task, after some discussion with the board and/or the community perhaps we will change or modify that flavor.

The only way we can ensure any of this happening is with open and honest communication. We want to hear from you! My personal contact information is:

dmartin1971@att.net

540-977-1594 (home) 540-874-4478 (cell)

2568 Blue Ridge Springs Rd

Blue Ridge, VA 24064

If you feel more comfortable sending your questions to our PO Box, it is listed below:

L/CVA Emmaus – Attn: Board Questions

PO Box 11942

Lynchburg, VA 24506 - 1942

Can’t wait to hear from you!

God’s Peace

Donna Martin, Walk #10

L/CVA Emmaus CLD