Conference will focus on building healthy churches
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The Rev. Susan Ruach |
Nov. 4, 2004NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS) — Ensuring that United Methodist churches and annual
conferences collaborate to build healthy congregations will be the goal
of a national leadership conference in January. The
"Healthy Churches Transforming the World" conference, set for Jan.
27-30 in Houston, is being designed to inspire conference leaders to
build healthy leaders, healthy churches and a healthy world. Sponsored
by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, the event is expected to
draw 1,000 people. Conference leaders will emphasize that healthy
churches are not about the number of people or size of a congregation,
but more about faith formation, disciple making and social witness. Healthy
congregations are welcoming; have vital worship, prayer and Bible
study; are growing and maturing disciples; and are reaching out in
mission and sharing the stories of Jesus Christ in the world, said Susan
Ruach, of the Board of Discipleship’s conference leaders team. While
the United Methodist connection has examples of healthy congregations,
event organizers hope the conference will create an in-depth dialogue
about what a healthy church looks and acts like, and about how
conference leaders can strengthen the health of local congregations, she
said. To
ensure such a dialogue materializes, annual conference groups will meet
after each plenary session to reflect and discuss strategies for
helping develop healthier churches. Featured
conference speakers will include Bishop Gregory V. Palmer, Iowa Area;
Bishop Janice R. Huie, Houston; the Rev. Leslie Griffiths, dean of
Wesley’s Chapel, London; and the Revs. Rudy and Juanita Rasmus, Houston. "This
conference is for conference leaders and those who are assisting church
leaders in their disciple-making mission," Ruach said. "Whether it is
through our leadership roles in communications, stewardship, evangelism,
congregational development, missions, social witness or ecumenical
ties, all of our ministries should work together and collaborate to
build healthy churches – not to have a great institution, but to mature
Christians to reach out and welcome others who need the love and grace
of Jesus Christ. "We
like to think of it in terms of a Wesleyan’s vision of ‘conferencing’ –
or a type of General Conference with no resolutions and legislation – a
conference full of holy conferencing," Ruach said. "This is a time for
growth, leadership training, praising God, and discerning God’s will for
us as key parts of the connectional church." The
"Healthy Churches Transforming the World" conference will include more
than 80 optional sessions highlighting the vision "that to be great
leaders, we must be spiritually grounded and able to provide effective
leadership," according to the online brochure for the event. The
national conference leaders training event was under the auspices of
the General Council on Ministries. Since that agency was dissolved by
the 2004 General Conference, effective Dec. 31, the new Connectional
Table transition team requested that the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship take up the reins of the national conference. Details and registration forms may be downloaded from http://gbod.org/healthychurches. For additional information, contact Nancy Dunlap at ndunlap@gbod.org or call (877) 899-2780, Ext. 7141. News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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