Events

It’s Not Too Late to Register for a Day with Elaine Heath

Events Published on
August 27, 2024

A recent study in the Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry Journal found that one out of three people will experience religious trauma in their lives. Different types of trauma impact people in our churches and communities. On September 12, attend a Day of Learning with Elaine Heath to better equip yourself to respond.

Understanding Trauma and Cultivating Compassion in Faith Communities
Thursday, September 12, 9:30am – 3pm
Christ the King UMC (map it)
$40, includes lunch

Bring Your Team! We hope you will consider equipping a trauma ministry team by bringing church colleagues–clergy and lay–to learn at this Day of Learning. Bring a group of 3 or more from your church and receive a 20% discount on your total registration. The deadline to receive the group discount has been extended to August 30.

About the Day:

During this day, clergy and laity will become equipped with descriptions and definitions to better understand the range and types of trauma. Elaine Heath will outline practical trauma interventions for harm prevention and suggest ways to respond and nurture individuals who have encountered trauma in their lives or the church.

Knowing that we cannot foster healing in the world without attending to our healing, we will explore the interconnectedness of personal healing with communal healing, and initial pathways to integrate the two. Drawing from ancient and contemporary wisdom from Christian tradition and trauma studies, participants will learn how to embrace with self-compassion, their own experiences of pain, in order to become “wounded healers.”

This interactive day will incorporate small group discussions and time for personal reflection.

About Elaine Heath:

Author, Speaker, Retreat Leader, Consultant

We are at the forefront of a new reformation, one that is freeing the Christian faith from the sinful structures of patriarchy, racism, classism, many phobias, and exploitive forms of mission and evangelism. The new reformation is all about the emergence of a generous, hospitable, equitable form of Christianity that heals the wounds of the world. I believe much of the work for the church in the years ahead must focus on healing the wounds inflicted by Christendom so that the beauty and inclusive goodness of the Gospel can be heard, seen, and experienced. My work as an author, speaker, retreat leader, and consultant focuses on helping leaders and organizations lean into the healing, liberating, and spiritually transformative journey into which God is calling the church in this new era.

Along with my spouse and several friends I live at Spring Forest, a new monastic community in rural North Carolina, where I serve as Abbess. We tend a forest and small regenerative farm, and we have a range of ministries that support immigrants. We also hold retreats for small groups and individuals. Our broader new monastic community beyond the farm is called The Church at Spring Forest.

I have served in pastoral and academic ministry, including serving as the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, and Dean of Duke Divinity School, and am the founder of Neighborhood Seminary and co-founder of the Missional Wisdom Foundation. I’m the author of thirteen books, including, Trauma Informed Evangelism (co-authored with Charles Kiser), Loving the Hell Out of Ourselves: A Memoir (co-authored with Jeanine B. Heath-McGlinn), God Unbound, and The Mystic Way of Evangelism

Leadership and Church Administration: Mastering Meeting Dynamics

Events Published on
August 12, 2024

The Leadership and Church Administration webinar series addresses specialized topics as well as ministry essentials. You can pick and choose to attend the workshops that meet your needs and interests. Our second workshop in the series, led by Teresa Holder, is on Mastering Meeting Dynamics. Whether this material is new to you or is a refresher, more effective meetings lead to more effective ministry!

About the Workshop:

Meeting planning and unexpected meeting dynamics can present challenges and limit any well-intentioned team or committee chair. This workshop will equip you to proactively prepare for meetings. We will start with the basics such as determining when a meeting is needed, developing a simple and clear agenda, and documenting your team’s decisions with clarity and simplicity.

The primary focus of our time together will be on facilitation skills and leading in a way that honors all who are involved and will include:

How to facilitate (but not dominate) a meeting
Structuring meetings so participation is shared among the extroverts and introverts
Respecting and honoring cultural differences
Working through conflict in a meeting
Inspiring and empowering team members to feel invested in shared goals
Building a sense of community in all of your teams and committees

This interactive workshop is intended for team leaders, committee chairs, and anyone involved in facilitating and organizing meetings.

Leadership and Church Administration:
Mastering Meeting Dynamics
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with Teresa Holder
Wednesday, October 2, 2024, 11:00 am -12:15 pm ET

About the Presenter:

Teresa Holder, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication and Head of the Department of Communication at Meredith College. She has more than 20 years of experience in college teaching, higher education administration, and nonprofit public relations management. She has led more than 100 workshops, including training on conflict resolution for managers. She has also published numerous articles on the topic of managing conflict in leadership roles. Her volunteer work includes lay leadership at her church, with a focus on small group ministry. From personal experience and having grown up as a preacher’s kid, she understands the unique joys and challenges that come with working in ministry!

Join Us for a Day of Learning with Elaine Heath

Events Published on
August 6, 2024

The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to a Day of Learning with Elaine Heath. Join us for an interactive session to explore practical trauma interventions and pathways to foster both personal and communal healing.

Understanding Trauma and Cultivating Compassion in Faith Communities
Thursday, September 12, 9:30am – 3pm
Christ the King UMC (map it)
$40, includes lunch

Join Our Group Book Order:

We are placing a group order for discounted copies of Elaine Heath’s book, Trauma-Informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers. To join our group order, register by August 26 and add the number of books you want to your registration. Books are $10/each, 50% off list price. All books will be available to pick up at the event.

About the Day:

This interactive day will incorporate small group discussions and time for personal reflection.

About Elaine Heath:

Author, Speaker, Retreat Leader, Consultant

Church Administration and Leadership: Contextual Worship Planning

Events Published on
August 5, 2024

The Center for Leadership Excellence presents a new webinar series, Church Administration and Leadership. The series will cover specialized topics and ministry essentials for targeted interests. Our first webinar, led by Carl Frazier and Ben Williams, is on Contextual Worship Planning.

About the Webinar:

In this workshop, we will cover how to effectively plan for worship services. This content is intended for those newer to ministry or those who want to reflect on and evaluate their church’s current worship planning processes.

Planning, planning, planning! How far in advance should worship be mapped out?
How to engage the laity in worship planning and why it matters.
Resources for worship and planning to preach.
When to use a sermon series and when to lean into lectionary preaching.
Integrating worship planning with holistic discipleship practices such as Bible studies, small groups, etc.
Theology of worship and creating an effective flow for worship services.

Church Administration and Leadership:
Contextual Worship Planning
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with Carl Frazier and Ben Williams
Thursday, August 22, 2024, 10-11:30 am ET

About the Presenters:

Carl Frazier is a retired elder in The United Methodist Church. For 43 years, he has pastored churches of all sizes in the NC Conference from some of the smallest in membership to one of the largest. In addition to his parish work, Carl has served on several Annual and General Conference boards and agencies, as a delegate to three General and four Jurisdictional Conferences, and as a District Superintendent. He has degrees from Barton College (B.A., 1980), Duke University (M.Div., 1984), and Princeton Theological Seminary (D.Min., 2003). As a local church pastor, Carl’s passions were preaching, teaching, vision casting with a congregation, and leadership development in the context of congregational life.

Ben Williams serves as Lead Pastor of Christ UMC in Chapel Hill. Prior to Christ UMC, Ben served as Lead Pastor of St. Mark’s UMC in Raleigh for thirteen years. He began in ministry over twenty-two years ago at Millbrook UMC, serving as the Pastor of Contemporary Worship and Witness. In addition to serving the local church, Ben has served on the NC Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and as a delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences. Ben loves forming and leading teams of clergy and laity in support of God’s mission in the world. Outside of ministry, Ben loves being in, on and or near almost any body of water he can find. He loves reading great novels, riding his bike, and attempting new recipes on the grill. Last but not least, when all else fails, and no one else will have him – Ben delights in life alongside his wife of twenty-one years and two almost adult-aged children.

Upcoming United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) Training

Events Published on
August 1, 2024

The NC Conference United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) is excited to announce an upcoming UMVIM Team Leader Training offered by the Southeastern Jurisdiction UMVIM office.

This online training is for mission team leaders who have led teams in the past but can benefit from reviewing the latest mission policies and UMVIM resources. This training will be led by Rev. Matt Lacey, Director of UMVIM, Southeast Jurisdiction but is open to anyone.

The training will be 10 am – 12 pm Central Time (11 am – 1 pm Eastern Time) on Saturday, September 14, 2024.

You can register for this event at the link below. Participants will be emailed a Zoom link and instructions prior to the event.

NCC UMVIM will accept attendance at this training as certification for UMVIM Team Leaders, a requisite for applying for Conference Missional Exchange Grants for your mission teams.

Questions? Please contact Rev. Miles Baker Hunt, Conference UMVIM Coordinator, at umvim@nccumc.org.

Announcing Our Dementia Resourcing Series

Events Published on
July 30, 2024

The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to join us for our Dementia Resourcing Series…

This series will have three components: two webinars and a commissioned article. Register for one or all three.

Webinar, October 1, 2024, 1-2 pm, Dementia through the Lens of Grace, with Bishop Kenneth Carder

The Christian gospel of grace counters the stigma, isolation, and hopelessness associated with forms of dementia by broadening the lens from symptoms to stories and by providing a community in which the most vulnerable members become agents of renewal and transformation. The presentation will identify unique contributions people living with dementia offer to Christian discipleship and the church’s mission.

Article, October 8, 2024, “Letter to My Pastor,” by Lester Ruth

We have commissioned Lester Ruth, worship professor at Duke Divinity, to write an article about what he would want from his pastor, particularly in terms of worship opportunities, if he developed dementia. Want to be the first to read this article? Select this option when you register and we will email it to you on October 8.

Webinar, October 15, 2024, 1-2 pm, Respite Care for All: Care Ministries for Your Community, with Daphne Johnston

For those whose lives have been completely disrupted by a diagnosis of dementia, where do they turn? Where do they go to restore meaning and purpose, to make new friends? The answer is the church. The faith community can provide community and hope for families living with dementia while also providing discipleship opportunities for their own congregation. Join this webinar to find out more information on beginning a respite ministry in your area.

Interested in learning more? Lay Servant Ministries is offering a 10-hour Zoom class based on Bishop Carder’s book, Ministry with the Forgotten: Dementia Through a Spiritual Lens. This course will be facilitated by the Rev. Joey Shelton and will meet five Monday evenings in October and November. Learn more and register.

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