Consent Agenda
Connectional Ministries
A new day is dawning here in the Memphis Conference. Throughout our conference congregations and pastors are seeking ways to engage the mission field that is just outside the door of our churches. We are in the midst of transition to new ways of ministry.
The Connectional Ministries office is changing as well. Our mission at the conference level is the same as the mission statement I hope will be adopted at this session of Annual Conference: to discover, equip, connect and send lay and clergy leaders who shape congregations that offer Jesus Christ to a hurting world, one neighborhood at a time.
As director of connectional ministries, I am charged and entrusted with the responsibility to steward the conference’s vision of what it can become. I want to use my years of experience in managing transition in disaster to help us make sense of what we must do to move forward and become the fruitful church God is call us to be.
We have made some tough decisions. Decreases in apportionment payout to the connectional ministry line in our conference budget forced us to make changes to our conference staff. We discontinued the salaried positions of our disaster response coordinator and our associate for young persons ministries. Because both of these areas of ministry are important to our conference, we are creating new ways to be connectional.
We have renewed our efforts to developing new congregations within the conference. We have asked Dr. Steve Stone, pastor at Heartsong UMC in Memphis to be the Director of our New Church Development team. Steve has put together a great team and you will hear from his team elsewhere in these reports. Our Intentional Discipleship Action team has moved into the second year of the Generative Leadership Academy and we are beginning to see results of that training as new leaders are emerging and taking their place in local congregations.
We are seeing more and more pastors working with coaches. My goal is to engage local congregations with coaches, as well. Transformational coaches know that those who are being coached are the experts in their own situations. Coaches help us make our own individual ministry action plans that cause us to dig deeper into our own situations in order to get us where we want to go.
Our work in the future will include creating strategies for clergy excellence, creating strategies for congregational evaluation and intervention, and aligning our budgets and resources. We also plan to “rethink” how we do our Annual Conference sessions.
Ours is a God of hope. We will be journeying in this time of transition for an extended period into the future. As we move, we know that Christ is with us, calling us to a “new creation.” Bishop Robert Schnase has reminded us in his book “Seven Levers” that we as United Methodists are in covenant with one another. And so it is with John Wesley’s covenant prayer that I close, changing the singular pronouns to plural so we can pray as a community:
We are no longer our own, but thine.
Put us to what thou wilt, rank us with whom thou wilt.
Put us to doing, put us to suffering.
Let us be employed by thee, or laid aside by thee,
exalted for thee, or brought low for the.
Let us be full, let us be empty.
Let us have all things, let us have nothing.
We freely and heartily yield all things
To thy pleasure and disposal.
AMEN.
--Rev. Tom Hazelwood
PARIS DISTRICT
Elyse Bell
Lay Resource Leader
As the Lay Resource Leader for the Paris District, I am charged with resourcing the seventy-one district churches to discover, equip, connect and send lay and clergy leaders who will shape their local churches in order to form and transform their neighborhoods and the world by making disciples of Jesus Christ. I strive to be a liaison between the Memphis Conference and the Paris District by providing networking, training opportunities, ministry resources, support and coaching to open hearts and minds.
As a part of the district mission strategy, each church has been provided with a MissionInsite demographic report, based on census information for their community which can offer self-awareness of the surrounding neighborhoods. In order to serve our communities we must first understand our communities.
Based on our past experience of equipping people to share their faith, much fruit has been borne through this training exemplified by the increased number of professions of faith. A new round of faith sharing workshops for laity and clergy will be led in county groups. At the completion of the training, we will model faith sharing by engaging the community on foot; serving by both word and deed.
As a part of the PACTO Agreement, the district led an exploratory team to Allende, Mexico in the Manantiales District to coordinate our approach to help construct the new Iglesia Metodista Jesus La Luz Verdadera Church (Jesus the True Light). Follow-up groups of Volunteers in Mission Teams will assist with construction as well as Vacation Bible School, medical clinics and Bible distribution. A team of seven lay and clergy leaders from the Manantiales District have visited the Paris District to help identify neighborhoods of Hispanic families, sharing health kits and Bibles throughout the day and ending with a community meal and worship service in each of the district counties. Campamento Espiritu, a Christian camping experience at Lakeshore for Hispanic children in our Episcopal area, is now in its fourth year with attendance of 40 elementary children.
We continue to partner with the Paducah District in the continuous learning community called, Generative Leadership Academy, now in its second year. Both laity and clergy are being trained in leadership skills for implementation in the local church and community.
Resources are shared from the district library at the monthly Paris District Clergy Meetings, highlighting Bible studies for all ages, as well as books on leadership, evangelism, stewardship, mission outreach, discipleship and prayer. This list is posted on the monthly e-newsletter. Vacation Bible School supplies and decorations are shared throughout the district making it affordable for small membership churches to host community Bible school opportunities. A Best Practices list in key ministry areas of the local church’s ministry is distributed in district churches to foster communication and sharing of ideas.
I attend worship services in every church throughout the year, as well as assessing individual church needs as they relate to connecting God’s love with their communities. It is with much joy that I share in the work with clergy and laity in making disciples of Jesus the Christ for the transformation of the world.
BROWNSVILLE DISTRICT
Susan Davidson
Lay Resource Leader
The purpose of the Lay Resource Leader is to work in the district with all the churches to help develop ministry opportunities. The Lay Resource Leader provides resources for these ministries. I give thanks to God for all that He has blessed in the work of clergy and laity in the Brownsville District. This year has shown us that God is continuing to “stir the pot”.
We have re-created the District Youth Council. This group of young leaders are all Certified Lay Servants. The group traveled to a rural community and conducted a Vacation Bible School for the children in that church and community.
Forty-eight youth and adults traveled to D’Iberville, Mississippi to work on three projects which were victims of Hurricane Katrina. This was the Brownsville District Mission Trip. As a result of their hard work, two families were able to return to their homes. The youth workers that went came from small rural churches in the district and had never been on a mission trip. This trip made deep changes in many lives.
A group of ten youth traveled from Henning to Jackson every day for a week to help at-risk children have a Vacation Bible School experience. Connections were made on many levels.
We had four Lay Servant trainings. Sixty lay people were trained. Out of these trainings, three of the Lay Servants started small group studies in their local churches.
We are connecting our youth groups in the district. Leaders, both paid and volunteer, meet regularly to share ideas and resources and help each other. Several churches have started new youth groups. Four churches have new activities buildings and are prayerfully discerning God’s will for youth mission in their facilities.
Don Ammons, the District Lay Leader, and I met with Lay Leaders in all five counties. The purpose of these meetings was to prepare for charge conference, help plan new ministries, and share with others the work in the local churches.
The District Executive Committee, the Lay Servants, the clergy and several small groups in the district have studied Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Schnase. This study has led to conversation all over the district.
In 2014 we will continue to follow the lead of our District Superintendant, Harrell Nation, to step out of our comfort zone and work differently for God. Our youth group of 70 this year will be returning to D’Iberville, Mississippi in June, for another work week. We will continue to have Advanced Lay Servant training classes and more small youth groups throughout the district. We do expect greater things to come.
Paducah District
Sue Engle
Lay Resource Leader
It has been a year of change, team work, energy and excitement in the Paducah District. A leadership team was formed and spent twelve months in an incubator to develop a Ministry Action Plan (MAP) to give guidance and direction to the connectional ministry within the District. This group of clergy and lay participants has spent one full day together each month. We practice living in a covenantal relationship, studying materials to help us with a better understanding of missional communities, and planning for the preferred future.
Out of the District team, Mission Blitz was born. We realized we needed more ‘send’ focused programming so we developed and launched our first District wide mission day on March 1. Though it was a chilly day we worked 35 projects including worship at several nursing homes and communion in several jails. We worked in local parks in random acts of kindness, we did repair work, built two ramps and one county did a massive house build. We have cooks, craftsman and amateurs, children and youth, lay and clergy, all ages and stages. More than 500 people participated in some way in the mission day. What a great beginning, or ‘on ramp’ to connecting with our neighbors. We share in a Celebration Dinner prepared and served by District members, two churches shared in the music ministry and Tom Hazelwood challenged us to move from serve us/to service. A great start to a renewing our relationships in the community
Our District Leadership Training drew a record number of participants. We started the afternoon sharing the District MAP, talking about the mission statement for the Memphis Conference, and how we anticipated it would change the way we practiced ministry. Our leadership training classes were filled to overflowing, and many people stayed to participate in the Reelfoot Music Fest where we raised $4,000 to support the ministry.
The Generative Leadership Academy completed its pilot year well, and has started a new year with 130 participants. The Academy continues to be a partnership with the Paris District, and this year has included participants from Jackson, Dyersburg and the Illinois Great River Conference. We are excited to see the Academy not only focus on leadership being generative, but becoming an Academy we hope gives birth to more academies.
During our leadership training we asked participants what would be most helpful in resourcing our local churches. There were requests for several classes that will be begin in our new District Center in April. We are excited to be using the facility, and looking forward to developing plans to make the best use of the sanctuary and activities center. Both facilities are in excellent condition and will be a wonderful asset for mission and ministry.
We are currently preparing to host Annual Conference and are enjoying working with Bishop McAlilly and Tom Hazelwood to welcome the Conference here in June. We have a strong team working together to make each delegate feel at home during our time together.
It is a blessing to serve as the resource person in Paducah!
Dyersburg District
Denise Russell
Lay Resource Leader
As Lay Resource Leader of the Dyersburg District, I am the liaison between the Memphis Conference and the 61 churches in 5 counties in Tennessee and Kentucky that make up our district. In working to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, one of our goals has been to help people to use MissionInsite and other resources to identify and actively engage their new mission fields. I have had the pleasure of being in each charge at least once this year and many more than once.
The district superintendent and I met with each pastor in a pre-charge conference consultation. In this process, we were able to determine where the charge was in their study of Back to Zero and in discussing and formulating answers to Bishop McAlilly's questions. Before charge conferences, we facilitated a group meeting where pastors and laity met together to discuss the material and exchange ideas. Attending charge conferences brought areas to light where we need to offer additional education and resources in this new year, primarily in sharing the gospel with others and servant/relational evangelism. “How do I talk to people about Jesus?” classes have been taught in specific churches by request. I have also offered classes in Safe Sanctuaries and church council leadership training as well as speaking at UMW groups and teaching in local church SS classes.