One of the great traditions we have in our conference is our priority for Youth Ministry. In this video, Bishop Shelton encourages pastors and congregations to share the incredible conference youth events with their youth.
Effective Leaders
Pilgrimage to the Boarder
May 6, 2024 – May 10, 2024
The reality of life on the borderlands is much more complex and unjust than most people realize. Hope 4 Humanity offers an experiential learning pilgrimage that explores the causes and difficulties of migration and the impact of U.S. immigration policies. This pilgrimage will bring to the forefront the voices of migrants and people committed to social change through hands-on experiences like visiting migrant shelters (in the U.S. and Mexico) and interacting with migrants. We will learn about the economics of migration.
$600 – $650
Plus transportation
An Encouragement for March
The Center for Leadership Excellence, in partnership with COSROW, is pleased to lift up the voices of women in ministry encouraging fellow women in ministry. Please enjoy this month’s Encouragement from the Rev. Laura Dunlap, pastor at Walnut UMC in Hurdle Mills. Anyone can sign up to receive Encouragement emails here.
“And not only that, but we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.“
Romans 5:3-5, NRSV
One of my most formative spiritual moments as a youth was entering a Catholic church for the first time with a dear lady (friend of the family) attending mass. Our families were on vacation
together. My family is Protestant. Her family is Catholic. Devout in her faith, Saturday night mass was on her schedule, even on this trip away. I had not been to mass much outside of first communion celebrations or weddings. I didn’t typically attend church on Saturday night. I was told I wouldn’t have to dress up, so I tagged along willingly.
We entered the church, La Iglesia de San Martín. It was a small church in the center of Colonial Tovar. Colonial Tovar is a quaint town once known as the “Germany of the Caribbean,” with picturesque German architecture nestled in the Andes Mountains in Venezuela. Walking inside the church was the first time I remember seeing a crucifix. The family friend made the sign of the cross on her forehead and went to kneel down on one of the church’s kneelers. I followed along pretending I knew when to stand, kneel, and what to say. I found I couldn’t stop staring. There was Jesus who died on the cross. There was Jesus who died for the
sins of the world.
I grew up knowing John 3:16 since my Sunday school teacher offered extrinsic motivation. Anyone who memorized the verse of the week was rewarded with picking a treat from the high-quality Oriental Trading Company treasure box. Seeing the crucifix though awakened my heart to good news as I fought back tears. The visible drama pierced my heart with the crucifix showing tears painted on his eyes, the blood drops, the crown of thorns, his body broken and nailed to the cross.
When we enter Lent, we take up the cross. We deny ourselves by fully living into the image of God. We journey to Golgotha. We live into this redemptive suffering. We find assurance in these words from Romans when suffering changes our lives from tragedy, pain, or unspeakable grief. At times, in our calling as clergywomen, we take on the boldness of suffering with risks to follow the Spirit where we serve. We are entrusted to make difficult and holy decisions in pivotal moments. We speak prophetically; we act pastorally.
March celebrates Women’s History Month and continues the journey of Lent. We automatically equate the forty days of Lent with suffering. Prayerfully, Women’s History Month reminds us of
Spirit-filled women of God persevering against all odds as pioneers and even martyrs in the faith. In our own journeys, we might have stories that depict this nuance of suffering and hope. We
give thanks Dr. Anna Holleman’s scholarship on clergywomen and resiliency (see this one-page summary with prompts for discussion or the full article).
We embody suffering at times, at times hope, and at times we persevere with character leading us back to hope. We have and share this extraordinary hope that never fails us as the Holy Spirit remains our steadfast guide no matter where we find ourselves in life’s journey. Holy Spirit, sustain us as we lift high the cross, the love of God we proclaim, in the name of the suffering
servant and our greatest hope, all praises be to our Lord and Savior.
Take Action: As we give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit who offers perseverance leading to character and character to hope, check out these opportunities from COSROW and the Center for Leadership Excellence to empower us with a hope that does not disappoint.
In partnership,
Center for Leadership Excellence and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women
Duke Clergy Health Initiative – New Website & Resources
Whether you’re a pastor struggling with symptoms of stress and burnout or a leader of a congregation seeking to improve your partnership with your pastor, The Duke Clergy Health Initiative has a wealth of resources available to support you in your ministry. All of the clergy and congregational resources are supported by an evidence base of research with United Methodist clergy, are free, and are available for immediate download.
The new Resources for Clergy section of the website includes:
- Stress Management Practices – Selah
- Tending the Shepherds: Mental Health Support for Clergy
- Robust Referral System
- List of Recommended Well-being Practices for Clergy
- Positive Mental Health and Clergy
The new Resources for Congregations section includes important guides for use with Pastor/Staff-Parish Relations Committees:
- Keeping the Faith: Conversations to Strengthen the Bond Between Pastors and Church Leaders
- View Bishop Shelton’s video about this resource.
- Pastor & Parish: A Learning Resource for Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committees
- The print/DVD version of this resource can be borrowed from the NC Conference Media Center.
The “Yes-And” of Ministry – Leaning into Improv
Life is full of the unexpected, both positive and not so positive. What if, instead of fighting it when things don’t go as planned, we leaned into the change and improvised?
Improv offers an invigorating approach to life as individuals and as spiritual communities. From Moses to Ruth to Jesus, scripture is full of people boldly saying “yes, and…” as they receive what life throws their way and build upon it.
Join pastor and author MaryAnn McKibben Dana for a spirited exploration of “yes, and…” and other tools for faithful improvisation. We are all improvisers, often without realizing it. The focus of our time together will not be on acting and comedy skills, but on practices for thriving in the midst of chaotic, often unpredictable lives. Come for a tasty blend of scripture, theology, psychology, literature, pop culture, music, and more, as we dream, discuss, and play together.
A Church Reforming, a World Transforming:
Faithful Ministry in a Chaotic World
Presented by the Center for Leadership Excellence
with MaryAnn McKibben Dana
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 9:30am – 3pm ET
NC Conference Building, Garner
$40, includes lunch
About MaryAnn Mckibben Dana:
The Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana is a writer, pastor, speaker, and ministry coach living in the Virginia suburbs of DC. She is author of three books, Hope: A User’s Manual, God, Improv, and the Art of Living, and Sabbath in the Suburbs, and writes a weekly newsletter for thousands of subscribers called The Blue Room. Her writing has also appeared in TIME.com, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Religion Dispatches, Journal for Preachers, the Christian Century, and Presbyterians Today. She was featured on PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly for her work on Sabbath and was recognized by the Presbyterian Writers Guild with the 2015-2016 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award.
She is a sought-after speaker, preacher, conference leader and writer around issues of leadership, faith formation, and congregational transformation. She currently serves as associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, VA. MaryAnn is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas and received her M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She is a mother of three, an imperfect knitter, and an occasional ultramarathoner. Connect with her at her website.
String of Prayers: Contemplating Protestant Prayer Beads
The Center for Leadership Excellence presents a webinar sponsored in partnership with the Commission on the Status and Role Of Women (COSROW)…
@
40 free registrations are sponsored by COSROW, $10 charge after
Registration for this event ends on April 10, so the prayer bead kits can be mailed and arrive in time.
About the Webinar:
Many different traditions have used prayer beads over the millennia, with the Catholic rosary the most well-known in Christian practice. Using a 33-bead model created in the 1980s, Protestants are exploring and enjoying this means of contemplative prayer. In this webinar, we’ll assemble our own prayer bead strings from kits and spend some time practicing this calming, comforting, affirming prayer practice.
About the Presenter:
Rev. Dr. Anne Walker Sims is a United Methodist elder, the spouse of a disabled United Methodist elder, and the proud pet parent of two dogs who remind her daily of the unconditional love of God and the need to laugh regularly. She is the pastor of Oriental UMC in beautiful Oriental, NC, and shamelessly shares photos of the “Sailboat Capital of North Carolina” often on Facebook. Anne has flirted with contemplative practices her entire life, despite being a strong extrovert with ADD. Building on a quarter century of ministry experience, a doctoral dissertation on community building in divided settings, and the knowledge that there is something valuable in contemplation if she could only figure out how to settle down to do it, she began to develop a personal contemplative spiritual practice toolbox (both virtual and physical) to help her grow in her faith and support her mental and physical health.
Anne has an Masters of Divinity from Duke Divinity School and her Doctor of Ministry from Drew Theological School. In 25 years of ministry, she’s led numerous Bible studies and book groups, led workshops and retreats on praying with labyrinths, prayer beads, through journaling and art, lectio divina, and more, developed prayer stations and liturgical arts experiences for worship, and pastored urban and rural congregations. She’s passionate about developing and deepening relationships between people and God.
We have reached our limit of 40 registrants to receive the free kits assembled by COSROW. Please reach out to cle@nccumc.org if you are still interested in registering. We’ll accommodate you if we can!