Wahe Guru Ji ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji ki Fateh!

When technology works for us, it is an incredible thing. Hopefully, it can work for you in this newsletter!

At the April 2015 Khalsa Council meetings, I gave a presentation on the Ministry (see video below). The presentation covered information about our newly-designed Minister ID cards. I also shared about the inspirational booklet, “I Am a Sikh Dharma Minister”, created as a 2014 year-end gift to Ministers from the Office of the Secretary of Religion and we took a brief look at the 2015 quarterly Minister e-newsletter theme focusing on our global sangats and seva projects.

 

 

Khalsa Council Presentation

At the Khalsa Council in April 2015, I also introduced a new development for the Ministry—a global grassroots infrastructure for better communication directly with Ministers. If you have been reading this column, you know that I have been saying that I am looking to the Ministers to help shape the future of the Ministry.

With an ever-growing global Ministry, the question is, “How do we do that? How can your voice be heard? How can your ideas be communicated and take root? How can our communication become more effective?” Clearly a broader and more integrative Aquarian infrastructure is needed if we are to achieve these goals.

To that end we have developed a provisional plan to engage a group of volunteer Minister sevadars called Regional Minister Coordinators (RMCs). Their role so far is to facilitate communication with Ministers in their geographic area, gather your ideas, concerns, and feedback and share that information with this office.

The intent is to create a grassroots “brain trust.” The Office of the Secretary of Religion will attempt to respond to your issues and to utilize your input to better serve the Ministry. Through this grassroots collaborative effort, we hope to generate a sense of unity among our global Ministry and inspire and support your participation in shaping the future of the Ministry.

Regional Minister Coordinators

These volunteer Minister sevadars have begun to meet as a group so that they can better serve you. Each one respectively will be organizing a meeting of Ministers in your geographic location in the near future. Some of these meetings will be in person and some will be virtual depending on the geographic terrain.

Right now, the idea is to have at least two meetings a year. We know everyone is busy and we want to respect that fact. At the same time there is a need for us to have a greater sense of identity as Ministers, a voice in shaping our future as a global community of Ministers.

The vision statement Ministers created years ago at one of our Summer Solstice Minister gatherings was: “Sikh Dharma Ministers: Working in Unity and Purity to Serve Humanity.” This infrastructure of Regional Minister Coordinators is an attempt to serve that outcome. By Guru’s grace, may we continue to serve our destiny as Ministers.

We will share more about this grassroots effort and all our Ministry activities at our Summer Solstice gathering this June 21st at Ram Das Puri. I hope to see you all there!

Humbly,

SS Dr. Sat-Kaur Khalsa, Secretary of Religion

 

About the Secretary of Religion

SS Dr. Sat Kaur Khalsa has served as Secretary of Religion since 1991 and was ordained as a Sikh Dharma Minister in 1975. As Secretary of Religion, Dr. Sat Kaur oversees and is ultimately responsible for the delivery of the functions of this Office. Dr. Sat Kaur is a long-time member of the International Khalsa Council and the Khalsa Council Executive Committee. Dr. Sat Kaur maintains a full-time psychotherapy private practice in Santa Monica, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico. She counsels individuals, couples, and families to support their personal and spiritual growth. She is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher, facilitates White Tantric Yoga®, and is a published author.