Jacqueline McMakin
Jackie arrived at the Church of the Saviour in the early sixties, and was an energetic, innovative source of new initiatives for many years. She and Her husband Dave now live in Vermont.
Jackie shares:
Arriving at the Church of the Saviour in the early sixties, I experienced a transforming no-burnout way of living as a person of faith and action. Boiled to its simplest terms, this involved staying inspired, upgrading skills, and engaging in action that uses my gifts and contributes value to others. The crucial role of training at the Church of the Saviour and later at Seekers Church was an eye opener. Study groups had not worked for me. The unique training we had involved learning a life changing body of knowledge, practicing skills for making that real in our lives, and then figuring out our path for giving to others. The School of Christian Living as designed by the Church of the Saviour and then Seekers far surpassed my academic study of religion at three universities. Since then my quest has been to apply those discoveries in ever widening circles.
All my books, and the other books on this website share discoveries made through this unique community of Church of the Saviour and Seekers Church. Together they make up a toolkit for “building the collective”, so crucial to seeing and creating opportunity in today’s global as well as local crises.
The Doorways Series is for individuals and groups who want boot camp-type training for empowered action. The four volumes/courses are progressive and provide opportunities to: explore experiences of God; decide about one’s relationship with God; deepen those decisions; discern life direction and purpose. Designed and tested over many years, the text and activities have been successfully used in a variety of ways – by individuals and groups of people here and overseas. A Spanish translation Puertas al Encuentro was converted into pamphlets by a priest for use with campesinos and into an academic course offered by the translators at the Jesuit University of Mexico City.
Titles, all available from Amazon and the Potters House Book Service:
Encountering God in the Old Testament (with Rhoda Nary). Washington, DC: Potters House Book Service, 2004. Ordering Information
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Meeting Jesus in the New Testament (with Rhoda Nary). Washington, DC: Potter’s House Book Service, 2004. Ordering Information
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Journeying With the Spirit (with Rhoda Nary).Washington, DC: Potter’s House Book Service, 2004. Ordering Information
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Discovering Your Gifts, Vision and Call (with Rhoda Nary). Washington, DC: Potter’s House Book Service, 2004. Ordering Information
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Other Volumes
The group experience of the Doorways courses happened in weekly two-hour sessions for six weeks. After experiencing the power of operating out of one’s gifts, vision and call, participants said they wanted more. “We want to apply these ideas to work.” It was then that Sonya Dyer, then pastor of Seekers Church, and I developed a non-profit and a training course called Working From the Heart. It was the first in the Washington DC area to combine the wisdom and skills from three fields: psychology; vocational/career development; and spirituality. Sonya and I, inspired by the Twelve Step programs, created eight steps to meaningful work. The text and activities again have been adapted for a variety of uses. They form the backbone for an annual career workshop offered by Seekers for South African youth from the Bokamoso Youth Center.
Working From the Heart (with Sonya Dyer). Washington, DC: Potter’s House Book Service, 2004. Ordering Information
A pragmatic eight-step process for finding or creating meaningful work. A simple and easy to use format that takes readers step by step toward the work they really want to do. Designed for individual or group use, this valuable book can be used for finding new work, enriching the work you have, or creating a retirement plan to continue contributing value through new circumstances. Beneficial for people of all ages.
Grow
ing Our Life Together (Sonya Dyer with Jackie McMakin) Available on-line
When Sonya announced her retirement from Seekers, I wanted to create with her a volume that would capture her unique way of offering prayer at worship and also mentoring the development of Seekers Church, moving us forward from her position behind the scenes.
Our Defining Moment: A Call to Create the World We Truly Want. Global Renaissance. Ordering Information
At age 74, I read that one role for elders is “to mentor the world.” How to apply the Church of the Saviour/Seekers Church discoveries to the whole world? After much research and pondering, the vision formed that a Global Renaissance is possible– there is the knowledge out there to halt environmental degradation and create a flourishing planet and world civilization. One gift that people identified in me is simplifying hard things. “Write something,” they urged. My call became to produce a manual that might be called “World Change for Dummies.”
