> Congregational Development 

Important Vital Congregations training events, mark your calendars today! (from TNUMConnects 1/18/12)

Call To Action/Vital Congregations - upcoming transformation training for leaders

Webinar: PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH RENEWAL - January 18 at 1:30 pm cst
> Key factors for setting a path toward renewal of district congregations
> Register at www.gbod.org/committee_resources

Webinar: GOAL SETTING FOR VITAL CONGREGATIONS - January 31 at 6:30 pm cst
> A guide for setting realistic numerical goals for your congregation on the website umvitalcongregations.org
Also, will include information on filling out vital congregations chart Betsey Heavner, Director of Leadership for Renewal, GBOD
> Register at www.gbod.org/committee_resources

Webinar: 10 COMMANDMENTS FOR CHURCH WEBSITES - February 9 at 6:30 pm cst
> A website is the new front door to your church. Patrick Steil, Webmaster for the North Texas Conference and owner of ChurchBuzz.org, will walk you through 10 Commandments that transform your website into the BEST outreach and communications tool that has ever been possible.
> Register at www.gbod.org/committee_resources

Webinar: HEALTHY CHURCH LEADERS - KEY FACTORS - February 23 at 6:30 pm cst
> SPRC has a key role for health of body, mind and soul for your pastor and leaders. GBPHB's Center for Health shares key factors for a healthy ministry environment.
> Register at www.gbod.org/committee_resources

Training for new church leaders is also available.
One-hour recorded modules are available for the Church Council. Trustees, Nominating Committees, Finance leaders, and S/PPRC. Individuals can watch at home or church groups can view the modules when they meet.
> These modules are posted at www.gbod.org/committee_resources

Have you submitted your goals to the Vital Congregations website? Unsure how?? Check out the video below for information on how to enter your data...it's really easy!

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5 ways to better equip Vital Congregations (from TNUMConnects 12/14/11)

Every month we send you just 5 ways you can better equip Vital Congregations and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Here’s this month’s issue! (SUBSCRIBE to Five Better Ways)

1. Gather your new church start team for a free retreat webinar. Train your new church launch teams in effective collaboration, visioning and planning through a free virtual retreat Jan. 20 – 21. The Launchpad Retreat Webinar will help teams and projects move toward launch or re-launch. Local retreats are led by the new church planter in or near the community of the new faith community. GBOD’s Path1 New Church Starts team leads the retreat, providing three live web-based presentations and a guide with a suggested schedule and activities. To learn more, go to http://bit.ly/i9h7ua. Short meditations for the weekly lighting of Advent wreath candles on the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve are at http://www.path1.org/floating19.php.


2. Join college students and other young adults for a Motown Mission. During the upcoming service week, March 11-17, collegians and young adults will work on rebuilding, greening and feeding projects in Detroit during the day and explore the city each evening. The Motown Mission is a United Methodist-connected organization that offers an experience deeply rooted in Wesleyan theology and the contemporary UMC's call to mission and service. For more information, go to www.motownmission.org.


3. Start the New Year with a clean planning calendar. This free resource from GBOD contains lectionary readings, holidays, seasons and special days from both the church and civil calendars for 2012. Your church staff, committees, leaders, teachers and musicians will find it helpful as they plan in the coming year. To download the calendar as PDF file for free, go to http://bit.ly/rpf1XS.


4. Think differently about your ministries with children and families. Attend the 2012 Children’s Ministry Forum Feb. 21 - 23 at Calvary UMC in Nashville to learn about creative programming with children of special needs, with tweens and more. Sponsored by GBOD’s Large Church Initiative team, Sing a New Song: Recreating Your Ministry is designed for children's ministry leaders in larger congregations. For more information, go to www.gbod.org/cmf. or contact Connie Schmutz at cschmutz@gbod.org or call 615.340.1761.


5. Nourish your spiritual life and strengthen your discipleship. Attend the two-year Academy for Spiritual Formation beginning Feb. 7 at the Lindenwood Retreat Center in Donaldson, IN. The Academy offers a place for spiritually hungry pilgrims (both lay and clergy) to be part of a spiritual community that practices a rhythm of prayer, worship, instruction, silence and rest. The Academy meets for five days in residence (once every three months) eight times over the course of two years. For those seeking a short-term experience of spiritual formation, the Five Day Academy is also available. For more information, go to www.upperroom.org/academy or call 877.899.2781, x7233.

> SUBSCRIBE to Five Better Ways

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Innovative Leadership Project begins Nov. 5 (from TNUMConnects 10/26/11)

Starting November 5, five churches in the Tennessee Conference will begin a seven month process to grow closer to God, one another, and their community in Christ’s name.

While it is probably too late for you to get on board this time around, you are invited to come check out the first Innovative Leadership Project seminar on Sat., November 5 between 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. The Cookeville District location is Cookeville 1st UMC, while the Murfreesboro District location is still to be announced.

By attending this seminar, you will gain insignt on staring a group after the first of the year or by Septempber 2012:

> Innovative Leadership Project: Have questions about the vitality and future of your church?  Do church leaders want to start something new or different and don’t know where to start...or have struggled to do so and fallen short? Want to build a leadership team that can help your church develop innovative ministries to bring people closer to Christ and share God’s love in powerful ways? The TN Conference Congregational Development Team and the General Board of Discipleship (birthplace of Disciple Bible Study) want to help. Consider joining with us this November in launching the Innovative Leadership Project.

Local church teams made up of lay and clergy will journey together in strengthening their spiritual foundations, building leadership skills, learning how to launch new ministries, designing/refining their discipleship systems, and leading  their congregations into a more vital future. You’ll have guided work as an individual, as a church team, and as a group of other churches on the same journey. No project or process is a “magic bullet,” but if we truly believe Christ lives within us...that Christ desires churches and communities to know God’s abundant love...then we must believe great things, even miracles, are possible as we step forward in faith.

For more info, please contact Rev. Jason Brock, Dir. of Church Vitality and Justice, jbrock@tnumc.com (615.329.1177).

> ILP overview (4 pages, PDF)
> ILP videos, click the image below:

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New innovative leadership project to help create vital congregations (from TNUMConnects 10/19/11)

GBOD Communications Office

Steve Horswill-Johnston, Executive Director
615.340.1726  (O) 615.429.3431  (C) 
stevehj@gbod.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn. /GBOD/ – Conference, district and congregational leaders seeking to respond to Council of Bishops’ Call to Action to create vital congregations can find invaluable help from a leadership development process for local church leaders developed by the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD).



Next month, the Tennessee Annual Conference will become the first conference to adopt GBOD’s Innovative Leadership Project (ILP), which is designed to help congregations that are looking for ways to become vital, to stay vital or to increase vitality.



“The ILP is a breath of fresh air as it charts a course for equipping and empowering congregations to expand and revitalize ministries,” said Bettye P. Lewis, Director of Connectional Ministries for the Tennessee Conference. “It provides a holistic approach for developing growth strategies related to one's community context.


“Designed for local church teams of both clergy and laity, the project explores spiritual/theological foundations, enhances leadership development and designs a discipleship system for church vitality,” she said.



Developed by Craig Kennet Miller, Director of Pastoral Leadership at GBOD, ILP is available to any group of churches, or even a single church. A new round of training will launch on Nov. 5, but ILP is also designed so participating churches can set their own schedule for the seven-month training period.



“Part of the idea of the Innovative Leadership Project is that you participate in four seminars over the course training period with your church team, and you do that with other churches,” Miller said. “The Tennessee Conference is developing a strategy to invite churches to participate in the Innovative Leadership Project and to provide the seminars for the churches that will be participating. They see this as way for their conference to respond to the Call to Action.”



ILP helps leaders look at the whole system of the congregation and how it connects to its members and to the people who live in the community where the church is located. The project is designed for churches in a group (district, cluster or city) to gather for the seminars and learn together. Between the seminars, church teams and individuals work on various assignments with the goal of developing and improving various ministry areas in the congregation.



Each ILP team of 5-10 people should include the lead pastor, staff related to the overall program of the church and key laity who have influence in the congregation. During the course of the training, team members will:


• Learn how to start new ministries in their congregations and evaluate current ministries

• Build knowledge and develop strategies around the Call to Action Drivers of Change related to creating vital congregations

• Learn to use an assessment tool that enables their church to develop a plan for its future



With each church’s $300 registration, all materials needed for the Innovative Leadership Project are provided in a kit, including 10 Innovative Leadership Guidebooks, a USB flash drive with the presentation material for the four Innovative Leadership Seminars and tools that can be reproduced for church leaders. In addition, three GodFilms videos which are used in the seminars are also included.



Webinars are available throughout the year from GBOD to train people to lead the seminars.



For a complete overview of the program, go online to http://churchleaderUMC.com or contact Miller at cmiller@gbod.org.

GBOD’s mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. Visit www.gbod.org for more information or call the Communications Office at 877.899.2780, x1726.

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