Small is not actually information about your church. The real questions are about whether your church is serving the community, whether it is vital, whether the community is deep, whether the good news is proclaimed. Still, congregations with smaller numbers and/or smaller dollars have some specific needs. All workshops below are fine tuned to your specific context.
RESISTING WITH LOVE: How congregations grow resilient and care for their community When the going gets tough, I think we all imagined that we would rise up and do what it takes to resist harms to our neighbors and siblings. Here we are and it turns out it is hard to figure out what to do. In the chaos of our time, everything feels like it must be addressed and nothing seems to have clear action plans. As a church this is an opportunity to build on the connections we have already created, and to build new and resilient networks. This workshop is for congregations that know they want to stand up for righteousness, but could use help finding a direction.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE: Quilt making as a metaphor for new forms of church. New forms of church should reuse and recycle the foundations of our faith to create new beauty and new forms of church. Gather with a team of three to eight people, and with three or more other churches, to explore how you could do church in new ways. This is about starting over with your most important values driving what it is you actually spend time doing as church. Six hours including lunch.
LONGING FOR BELONGING: Evangelism focused on welcoming people to belong We live in an age of loneliness, separation, and division. Church can be the community where people find belonging. But this only happens if we let others in, let them change us, let those in need be a part of us. This evangelism workshop is based on community organizing principals and give time for each congregation engaged to find their specific outreach plan. One to two day workshop.
MINISTRY OF THE BAPTIZED: Mission with Otheres. It is by our baptism that we are called into ministry. Some of that ministry is the work of creating church: preaching and teaching and studying God's word and sharing it with the world. A big part of that ministry is mission--proclaiming good news to people in need of good news. Yet many church-based missions are transactional--if you qualify we will give you stuff--rather than relational. We can work together to create a mission that lives out good news. In this workshop we will figure out together how your church or churches can find a way to engage in ministry with their neighbors. One and Two Day versions available.
ENGAGING IN MISSION WITH: How to Start a New Mission by Including Others in the Plan Take your church’s community ministry to the next step or create something new. Bring a team to learn new skills in relationship building and inviting participants to be volunteers. Engage biblical texts and stories from existing ministries. Develop theologies of mission and evangelism that will drive your church’s outreach. We will discuss how to move from ministry that is primarily to others into one that is ministry with your neighbors, and then look at the ways sharing the ministry creates a community that is church. This practical workshop includes time to practice skills and consider the risks and challenges of shared ministry. You will have time and guidance to develop plans for next steps that are specific to your context. Two days.