It
is with great pleasure that I announce that your presbytery leadership has
finalized our grant application to General Assembly for a Presbytery
Transformation Grant. Pending approval by General Assembly, 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 grant request to General Assembly is for $50,000 and is a
matching fund grant. Our portion of the matching funds will be taken from our
mission priority reserve account. We will use these funds to underwrite the
aforementioned retreats, seminars, online training, coaching and demographic
studies. If approved by General Assembly, transformation grant activities will
begin in August in conjunction with the combined presbytery meeting, so…Stay
Tuned!
Seeking
to Row in the Same Direction,
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