An Unfolding Ministry to Women

This post describes the non-profit organization we formed for Julie’s ministry.

The ministry of the unfolding soul is to equip women (primarily) to draw closer to God so they can experience a richer, fuller, spiritual life. This ministry helps people discover their gifts, talents, and abilities, so they can achieve their full potential as children of the Heavenly Father. In particular, this ministry focuses on the spiritual development of women:

The Unfolding Soul offers a variety of tools and programs to help women grow, such as: 

One-on-one Spiritual Direction & Discernment

Spiritual direction is an ancient practice of the church that is being rediscovered and newly practiced among believers. Spiritual direction sometimes is called “holy listening” and it is a process of slowing down and learning how to listen more closely to God. In our overly busy world, this is something we desperately need! Julie has earned a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Spiritual Formation; this training has equipped her to help women learn to listen more closely to the Lord, and better discern how the Holy Spirit is leading them.

Talks for Retreats, Conferences & Workshops

Julie loves to speak to groups on a variety of topics. She has done this regularly for years, and new opportunities now are emerging for her to speak around the Northwest. Last year, she was able to present a workshop on Contemplative Prayer for men & women at the Boise Bible College spring conference.

We are blessed to have a home that is rather distinct and can provide women with a sense of rest. So several times a year, Julie hosts small workshops and day retreats for women here on our property. She has held several such events over the past year.

Ministry Coaching – Individuals & Teams

People who serve on a church ministry staff face a unique challenge: where can they turn for advice and counsel? Where can they find a safe place to openly discuss challenges, opportunities, and heartaches? A ministry coach who is not part of the church can help fill that need. This is a role Julie loves to play: to come alongside women who are serving, and encourage them in every aspect of life and ministry.

It’s not just individuals who need coaching, but ministry teams. Here in our area, most churches are quite small. We came from “the land of megachurches” and now we live in a city where there is not a single megachurch. The church we attend, where Bruce serves as the Preaching Minister, is a congregation of roughly 300 and is considered large by local standards. (Take a look at www.gardenway.net).

And here’s what we’ve seen: many of the small and medium-sized churches in our area lack the resources to develop an effective women’s ministry. Even if women are available and willing to serve, they often have not been trained to lead. Through ministry coaching, Julie is able to help form a group of women into a viable leadership team. Her goal is to help women identify their gifts, help them understand the needs within their church, and then provide meaningful spiritual programs (not simply “events”) that will draw women within the church closer to God.

She is finding opportunities to meet with a variety of women in ministry and encourage them in all kinds of ways.

Starting in late 2014, we spent hours learning the ins and outs of forming a non-profit. We wrote up organizational plans and guidelines, Articles of Incorporation, and formed a Board of Directors. Then we applied to the State of Oregon and received recognition as a non-profit corporation. With that in hand, we then were able to be recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt, charitable religious organization…known as a 501(c)(3). We’ve held some informational events and sent out ministry packets to interested individuals and – by God’s grace – we have been blessed with a variety of men and women who are choosing to invest in this ministry.

We continue to marvel at the unfolding handiwork of God in our lives…and we find great joy in the unfolding ministry of the unfolding soul.

-       Julie & Bruce White

The Evolution of a Vision

In the past, we have posted updates about creating a ministry called The Lavender Pavilion. In particular, we described the vision God gave Julie for a prayer garden where women (mostly) can come to pray, reflect, and experience God’s presence [see “Pursuing a God-Sized Dream” – July 16, 2010 and other later posts labeled "Lavender Pavilion"]. 

This dream was born early in 2010 in our former hometown of Fullerton, California. With God’s continual prodding and encouragement, the dream continues to be fulfilled at our current home in Springfield, Oregon.

After arriving here in the fall of 2010, we spent a great deal of time clearing the land to build a prayer garden. About a third of our property (a century-old farmhouse) was an unused pasture surrounded by barbed wire and full of decades of debris: blackberry bushes, weeds, a rotting 3-stall stable, piles of old cement and lumber, and more. We cleared the property down to bare dirt, carved out a parking area, laid out an initial path in the garden, and have done quite a bit of planting. We’re also close to completing a labyrinth (prayer path) that will the central focus of this “quiet garden.” Much work still needs to be done, but it is rewarding to watch this piece of dirt slowly become a garden.

The original goal was to create a non-profit organization, and Julie would develop a ministry for women based around the prayer garden. That idea was formed back in southern California, when we considered purchasing a piece of property where the ministry could take place. Here in Oregon, we faced a different challenge because the garden would be built on our own residential property. This created some major legal hurdles. We won’t bore you with the details, but – after an initial consultation with an attorney - we realized that turning the Lavender Pavilion into a non-profit would be a difficult and costly endeavor.

So we decided to simply forge ahead on our own and develop the garden as our gift to the community. This place on our land will be known as The Lavender Pavilion.

Meanwhile, we went through the necessary steps to create a new non-profit ministry called the unfolding soul. This organization now has been up and running for more than a year. It’s a registered Oregon non-profit corporation and has received tax-exempt status as a religious organization from the IRS. the unfolding soul serves as the umbrella for Julie’s ministry to (primarily) women; a ministry that is slowly and steadily growing here in the Pacific Northwest.

Much of Julie’s ministry takes place away from our property. But several times a year, she offers ministry events in our home. At times, these events will take advantage of the adjacent prayer garden. Even when an event does not use the garden, we expect that women may linger afterward to enjoy some quiet moments of rest and reflection.

In the next couple of posts, we will offer a more detailed description of both The Lavender Pavilion and the unfolding soul. The vision has evolved, but it still is being fulfilled. 

We’ve learned that when God gives us a vision, the specifics may emerge in ways that are different from what we originally conceived. And yet if we are patient...if we are faithful...the vision can become a reality.

-       Julie & Bruce