TOGETHER IN MINISTRY FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Together in Ministry is a project of the Ministers Council for the strengthening of pastoral leaders for their service in the name of Jesus Christ. NOW is the time to complete applications for funding of 2008 covenant groups, to be sent first to your constituent Ministers council leadership and from there to the national Ministers Council office. The due date for 2008 funding to reach the national office is October 31, 2007. You may create a group of six to eight pastoral colleagues for prayer, study and friendship, or a group of pastoral and lay leaders together focused on Christian practices. You will be notified in November if you have received funding. All the information you need may be found here:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/TogetherInMinistry/08ApplicationProcess.aspx
The application form to submit:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/TogetherInMinistry/2008Application.aspx
An excellent model for a practices group comprised of pastoral and lay leaders together has been presented for funding by Gregg Sneller:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/TogetherInMinistry/documents/
InitialDesignPDFGreggSneller07.pdf
You may view a DVD resource that describes collegial covenant groups for potential group members and congregational lay leaders: http://www.ministerscouncil.com/TogetherInMinistry/ViewDVD.aspx
A discussion guide is provided to facilitate conversation about group formation and support:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/ResourcesToOrder/TIMDVDDiscussionGuide.aspx
Together in Ministry DVDs may be ordered free of charge by emailing sue.sechrist@abc-usa.org.
MINISTER MAGAZINE AVAILABLE TO BULK ORDER FOR FALL MEETINGS
The 2007 issue of Minister magazine devotes its eighty full-color pages to Together in Ministry covenant group stories written by colleagues in the United States and Puerto. BULK ORDER enough copies now for all pastoral and lay leaders expected to attend fall meetings of constituent Councils, regions and Together in Ministry groups. Just email your requested number of copies, address where they are to be shipped, and desired arrival date (sue.sechrist@abc-usa.org). You may view the entire issue in black and white: http://www.ministerscouncil.com/Periodicals/documents/spring07minmagfinal.pdf
SENATE 2007 FOCUSES ON RESOURCING CLERGY AND COUNCILS
The Ministers Council Senate 2007 proved to be a productive meeting. Representatives of constituent Councils focused on strengthening constituent councils, one part of a three part strategy being implemented by the Ministers Council for the resourcing of ministerial leaders. The other parts of the strategy include the encouragement of face to face collegial covenant groups that meet monthly, funded by two grants from the Lilly Endowment, and a continuing pattern of national conferences for ministerial leaders offered every other year opposite the ABC USA biennials. Further information about the meeting and the plans developed there:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/Senate/2007SenateInformation.aspx
RESOURCE BOOKLET
The Ministers Council announces the posting of the new Online Resource Booklet on the website homepage, http://www.ministerscouncil.com/default.aspx. This booklet includes extensive resources on a variety of pertinent ministry topics including Baptist identity, clergy-congregational relationships, ethics, legal issues, self-care, and templates for a variety of worship services. The Resource Booklet offers continually updated answers to questions and issues that are of concern to both clergy and laity. It is a comprehensive tool for those who want to improve their ministry. Because this is a growing collection of ministry-related materials, members of the Ministers Council, constituent councils, and regions are invited to submit additions to the manual. Documents may be sent to Rev. Dee Dee Turlington, at revdd@comcast.net. <mailto:revdd@comcast.net>
2007 RALPH GARFIELD SCHELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MINISTRY AWARDED TO KAREN GYGAX-RODRIGUEZ
The Rev. Karen Gygax-Rodriguez has received the 2007 Ministers Council Ralph Garfield Schell President’s Award for Excellence in the Ministry. The award was announced by Ministers Council President Alice Burnette Greene at the Ministers Council Senate concluding banquet on August 14. The Rev. Gygax-Rodriguez has served as Pastor of the Federated Church in Green Lake, Wisconsin, since 1996. http://www.ministerscouncil.com/Senate/07RalphGarfieldSchellAward.aspx
CELEBRATION OF A NEW BAPTIST COVENANT
January 30-February 1, 2008
Atlanta, Georgia
Register now to attend the exciting gathering of Baptists in North America who commit to the agenda of Jesus as presented in Luke 4. The New Baptist Covenant is an informal alliance of more than thirty racially, geographically, and theologically diverse Baptist organizations from throughout North America that claim more than twenty million members. Representatives of these Baptist organizations have reaffirmed traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality, as well as their obligations as Christians to fulfill the biblical mandate to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the marginalized, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.
There is no conference registration fee.
The American Baptist Churches USA will sponsor a breakfast free of charge for American Baptist conference participants on Saturday, February 2, at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. The speaker will be Neville Callum, Baptist World Alliance General Secretary. Breakfast reservations are separate from conference registration and may be made here, first come first served: https://www.bimwebport.org/etrakwebapp/meetings.aspx?DirectLink=ATLBKFT Conference and registration details: http://www.ministerscouncil.com/NewBaptistCovenant108.aspx
2008 CONFERENCES
Find information on other 2008 conferences for pastoral leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/2008ConferenceInfo.aspx You may also submit news about other conferences to be posted and shared across the entire American Baptist Churches family.
RETIREMENT PLANS OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND TRANSITION
Ministers Council Executive Director Rev. Dr. Kate Harvey, who has provided leadership for the only clergy advocacy group for American Baptist pastoral leaders since 1995, announced her retirement effective August 2008. The executive committee will appoint an acting executive director who will begin duties immediately upon Harvey’s retirement. This three-year position will be held by someone who knows Ministers Council structure and is seasoned and well-known among ABCUSA pastoral leaders.
MINISTERS COUNCIL MISSION STATEMENT AND COVENANT AND CODE OF ETHICS
The Ministers Council is an autonomous, professional, multi-cultural organization of ordained, commissioned and lay Christian leaders within the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. We are women and men who advocate for and covenant with each other to deepen our spiritual journey and to increase our effectiveness, as persons who are accepting the call of God and church for the advancement of the Gospel mission of the church of Jesus Christ and to proclaim His truth in a prophetic voice as led by the Holy Spirit. The Ministers Council was formed in 1935 and developed the first Covenant and Code of Ethics for pastoral leaders in 1937. The current Covenant and Code of Ethics has been amplified by a newly developed learning guide for group discussion:
http://www.ministerscouncil.com/CodeofEthics/CodeofEthicsInfoPage.aspx
TOGETHER IN MINISTRY GROUP SITE VISITS
As a component of understanding how well Together in Ministry is meeting its goals of strengthening pastoral leaders, Kate Harvey will visit selected collegial covenant groups and lay leaders of ministry served by those pastoral leaders. If you are interested in discussing such a get-together, please email kate.harvey@abc-usa.org.
MINISTRY TO KAREN REFUGEES
Nearly 200 years ago, American Baptists introduced Christianity to the Karen in Burma and it was the mission work in Burma that led to the organization of Baptists into a denomination. So American Baptists are at the foundation of the Karen church and the Karen are at the foundation of Baptist organization in America. Now that Karen refugees are being resettled in the United States through the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program of the U.S. government, many are seeking American Baptist Churches that are often overwhelmed by the ministry opportunities and demands. For information about the ABCUSA-Karen connection, click this link: http://karenkonnection.org/What%20is%20the%20Baptist%20connection.php3.
To read the story of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Utica, NY and Pastor Mark S. Caruana engaged in their ministry with Karen refugees who now number in the hundreds in the congregation, click here: http://www.ministerscouncil.com/Ministry%20Stories/MarkTabernacleBC.aspx.
FUNDING YOUR CHURCH’S MINISTRY
Future support for all that your congregation will be doing can come from your present members. But they need to know about estate planning. Go to www.americanbaptistfdn.org for an easy way to contact your Foundation representative and to order effective resources at no cost.
CONSTITUENT COUNCIL LEADERSHIP MODELS
~The Philadelphia Baptist Association Ministers Council will distribute photo ID membership cards, as the Puerto Rico Ministers Council has done for some time. A draft Ministers Council membership card is attached. The black rectangle on the left represents space for a photo. The card will be laminated and validation stickers distributed each year after dues are paid in full. See attachment. PBA MC leadership does an excellent job of regularly communicating by email with regional pastoral leaders about the entire year's schedule of events, and also sends reminders as a meeting approaches as well as that very day, i.e., "September 12, 2007, Dear Ministers Council, Just a reminder about our meeting today at 10:00 a.m. at Second Baptist Church of Germantown, 6459 Germantown Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19119. Dr. Ron Sider will be presenting, we will be getting our first look at our proposed bylaws, and we will even be taking pictures for our new Ministers Council ID cards. Join us for a time of fellowship and spiritual enrichment. Sincerely, The Rev. Ernest R. Flores, Pastor, The Second Baptist Church of Germantown”).
~Another superb example of leadership is the report to constituents by Senator Joan Burnett of the American Baptist Churches of Connecticut Ministers Council: http://www.ministerscouncil.com/Senate/CTSenatorReport07.aspx
~And a huge thank you to the Massachusetts Conference of Baptist Ministers for funding the Senate meeting ice cream social. Check out their website: http://www.massministers.org/content/modules/news/.
If you have news, ideas, events or websites from your Ministers Council to share with colleagues, please email to kate.harvey@abc-usa.org. The more we share with one another what works, the stronger we will all be.
SIGN UP FOR FUTURE ISSUES OF NEWS YOU CAN USE FROM THE MINISTERS COUNCIL
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MINISTERS COUNCIL CONTACT INFORMATION
Web: www.ministerscouncil.org
Mail: The Ministers Council
PO Box 851
Valley Forge PA 19482-0851
Phone: 1-800-222-3872, extension 2333, 2334
FAX: 610/768-2066
Join the Ministers Council through your local constituent council. Contact information is posted on www.ministerscouncil.org under the WHO WE ARE link.
II Timothy 1:6-7
"For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”