Thursday, April 7, 2016

Seeking Congregational Renewal: We got the grant! Yay!!!

It is with great pleasure that I announce that General Assembly approved our Presbytery Transformation Grant. This grant will help fund retreats, educational seminars, online training, personal coaching and demographic studies to be utilized by congregations to catalyze their efforts toward congregational renewal. These activities will be designed to benefit both ruling elders and teaching elders, as our conviction is that shared leadership for ministry is essential to congregational transformation!
            Our presbytery’s transformation grant application focuses on several themes:
1.      Promoting Congregational Evangelism – skill development for individuals, ideas for congregations, sharing the Gospel in Word through faith sharing
2.      Leading through Change – skill development for pastors and Sessions on steps required to lead a congregation in changing contexts, with adaptive rather than technical processes
3.      Cultivating Multi-Cultural Ministry – steps that encourage movement in the direction of becoming more multi-cultural as congregations, and what steps that stifle such movement
4.      Initiating Congregational Renewal – learning to evaluate one’s changing neighborhood, demographics and ministry challenges and concrete steps to take toward discussion, planning, and action
5.      Moving toward Missional Ministry – learning the theology and specific practices that help congregations move toward building community and compassion with and for their neighbors: mission + relational = missional
6.      Ministering to Millennials – learning the new cultural ethos of younger generations and how churches can respond in helpful ways relationally, missionally and, of course, technologically

The plan is to host Leadership Training Events beginning on Fridays at 1:00 the day before our stated presbytery meetings. Each training event will include two, 90 minute workshops in the afternoon, dinner, and one workshop after dinner, with the keynote presenter preaching at the next day’s presbytery worship. When possible, a workshop will be scheduled for Saturday in association with the presbytery meeting. Expenses for both dinner and hotel rooms for those traveling from out of town will be paid by the grant. Registration details will be forthcoming in July, so stay tuned!

Seeking to Row in the Same Direction all for the sake of Jesus and as the Body of Christ,

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