South/Central Indiana District Church of the Brethren
Brethren Leadership Institute
"Ministerial Leadership and Administration"
Dates:March 25, April 8, and April 22, 2017. (May 6 backup date if needed.)
Leader:John Ballinger, Interim Pastor, Maple Grove Church of theBrethren,
960 Township Road 964, Ashland, OH 44805
Phone: (567) 215-3552
Email:
Facebook:
Goals:By the end of this unit, class members will:
A. Be familiar with the way the Brethren are organized for ministry at the local, district, anddenominational level, and with the way Brethren work together with other Christiancommunities. This would include familiarity with the most current polity manual.
B. Be able to define the different areas of congregation life and how the pastor
relates to eachof these areas.
C. Be familiar with at least one process or program of congregational self-study
and goal setting.
D. Be able to demonstrate skills in conducting a meeting and/or leading a group
in planningand executing a task.
E. Be able to discuss the issue of conflict and ways of dealing with conflict in the
church, andto assess how individuals and groups respond to conflict.
F. Be able to articulate an understanding of stewardship that is both biblically rooted andinformed by current denominational stewardship efforts.
Texts:Leading Your Ministry, Alan E. Nelson, Abingdon Press, 1996.
Church of the Brethren Manual of Organization and Polity, Brethren Press,
2016. Basic resource on congregational, district and denominational polity. Retrieve the manual from this Church of the Brethren Annual Conference website page –
Various handouts dealing with learning goals.
Schedule:9:00 – 10:15am Session One12:30 – 1:45 pm Session Three
10:15 – 10:30 am Break1:45 – 2:00 pm Break
10:30 – 12:00 pm Session Two2:00 – 3:30 pm Session Four
12:00 – 12:30 pm Lunch3:30 pm Dismissal
Please turn page over→→ →
Expectations:
Class members are expected to be faithful in attendance and participation in the sessions.
Class members are expected to demonstrate understanding of the primary textsthrough classdiscussions and written work (2-3 pages for Leading Your Ministrydue byApril 8 and 3-5 pages for the Manual of Organization and Politydue by April22). Handouts received in class sessions shall provide another basis for much oftheclass discussion.
Class members are expected to think critically as they interact with classmaterials, class members and the class leader. Critical thinking is theintellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from,or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or
communication as a guide to belief and action. (Michael Scriven and RichardPaul, 2003).