This past weekend, we were able to have our first 2021 in person youth event for our middle schoolers at Camp Don Lee. Please watch the video to see what the Deans of Kaleidoscope and some of the youth attending had to say.
Events
A Webinar with Susan Beaumont
The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to a free webinar on leading in a liminal season with Susan Beaumont…
How do you lead an organization stuck between an ending and a new beginningâwhen the old way of doing things no longer works but a way forward is not yet clear? Such in-between times are called liminal seasonsâthreshold times when the continuity of tradition disintegrates and uncertainty about the future fuels doubt and chaos. Many of the practices associated with âgoodâ leadership donât work well in a liminal season, and casting a clear vision isnât advisable when we canât see the future with reasonable certainty. But leaders can still lead.
How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You Are Going
Session One: Negotiating a Liminal Season
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with Susan Beaumont
May 12, 10am-11am EST
About the Free Webinar:
Liminality refers to the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs during transition, when a person or group of people is in between something that has ended and something else that is not yet ready to begin. During this session, we introduce liminality and explore the challenges and opportunities facing organizations in liminal space. We will explore this pandemic season as a liminal season requiring a unique leadership stance and a different body of leadership work.
About the Series:
Following the webinar, the Center for Leadership Excellence will host two further opportunities to learn from and engage with Susan Beaumont. Anyone who registers for one ($20) or both ($35) workshops will automatically receive details to watch the webinar.
- May 19: Session 2, Engaging the Soulfulness of Institution, focuses on the soul as the authentic and truest self of the organization. In liminal seasons, we rely upon the soul of the institution to guide our leadership choices and our learning. This session explores spiritual shifts and practices that will help leaders connect with the soul of the institutions they lead.
- May 26: Session 3, Coaxing Order out of Chaos, focuses on the period after a liminal season, when reorientation occurs. In this session, we will focus on inviting meaning making, finding new purpose, and fostering innovation.
About Susan Beaumont:
Susan Beaumont is a consultant, coach, author, and spiritual director. She has worked with hundreds of congregations and denominational bodies across the United States and in Canada and is known for her ground-breaking work in the leadership dynamics of large congregations. Susan engages the best of business practice, filtered through the lens of careful theological reflection, and moves easily between discernment and decision making, nurturing the soul of the leader along with the soul of the institution.
Susan is an ordained minister within the American Baptist Churches, USA., and she currently teaches at Wesley Theological Seminary. She is the author of How to Lead When You Donât Know Where Youâre Going: Leading in a Liminal Season and Inside the Large Congregation and the co-author of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in the Large Congregation.
Clergy Benefits Webinar Recordings Available
Recordings are now available of this three-session series delivering the information clergy need for financial wellness throughout their ministry and as they make preparations for retirement. Visit our event webpage for the links and more details.
Hope Always – A Webinar on Faith and Suicide
How can the church be a force for hope in the face of suicide?
The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to a webinar on faith and suicide with Matthew Sleeth. Join us and learn practical tools that church and lay leaders can immediately deploy to become part of the solution to our suicide crisis.
Hope Always: How to Be a Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with Matthew Sleeth
April 14, 10am-11am EST
Want to learn more? Check out this recent article on suicide prevention from Matthew Sleeth that offers guidance for helping a friend or family member who is considering suicide.
UMPIP Webinar Series
Your United Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP)âA webinar series to help you achieve your retirement goals.
This year Wespath is excited to host a year-long webinar series about UMPIP. Each webinar will provide detailed information that will help you understand how to save for retirement, invest your savings and manage your investments. Your UMPIP can be a key part of a comprehensive financial plan and we are here to help.
- MarchâUnited Methodist Personal Investment Plan (UMPIP) overview
- Juneâa deeper dive into contribution accounts and available funds offered through Wespath
- Septemberâan explanation on how you can manage your accounts
- Decemberâa discussion on how your participation in UMPIP is one piece to your broader financial plan
Webinar attendees will be:
- Empowered with the understanding needed to make retirement saving choices
- Inspired to save as much as you can as a gift to yourself in the future
- Educated as to where to find more information to improve your financial well-being
Please join us throughout the year to better understand how UMPIP can help you achieve your retirement goals.
Bishops Reconsider May 8 Special Session of General Conference
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church met on Monday, March 22, 2021 in an additional meeting to consider pressing matters related to the Councilâs work. After much conversation, the bishops reached a decision that in the best interest of the church at this time, they would cancel the Special Session of the General Conference which was set for May 8, 2021.
The bishops announced that they will dedicate their regularly scheduled April meeting to conversation based on results of listening sessions that are occurring and discern a possible need for a new timeline toward General Conference 2020 set for August 29 to September 6, 2022, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
At the April meeting, the bishops will also discuss ways to empower the work at the Jurisdictional and Central Conferences.
âMuch has been learned over the past few weeks and the extended timeline will allow for even deeper listening by the bishops at the general church level but also in our residential settings,â said Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, president of the Council. âWe are thankful for the collaboration fostered with the Commission on General Conference and especially grateful for the work that had already begun in the planning for the Special Session,â Bishop Harvey added.
United Methodist Bishops Reconsider May 8 Special Session of General Conference
Media Contact: Rev. Dr. Maidstone Mulenga
Director of Communications â Council of Bishops
The United Methodist Church|
mmulenga@umc-cob.org
202-748-5172
www.unitedmethodistbishops.org