Lunch and learns offer training, education
Dr. Alisha Vincent, Dakota Wesleyan University's Director of the Practical Church Leadership leads a Lunch and Learn session at NCJ. Photo by NCJ communicators.
Five lunch and learns were offered to delegates attending the 2024 North Central Jurisdictional Conference, providing continuing education and training for church leaders: Clergy Well-being, Community Development and Ministry, Innovation in Ministry, Practical Church Leadership, and Regionalization. These sessions were recorded for later viewing.
Below is a summary and link for each one. Please share these free, downloadable sessions with people in your churchwho might be interested in these topics.
Clergy Well-being — Healthy leaders are important to creating healthy systems and organizations. This session focuses on what some of our annual conferences are doing to support holistic clergy well-being and how that’s impacting our congregations and connection.
Community Development and Ministry — What do a grocery store, a tool library, and a café have in common? They are each a part of the beautiful tapestry of Matthew 25, a nonprofit in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, working to improve lives through quality housing, healthy food, education, and community building. Birthed out of the United Methodist connection, this organization does a lot, but each effort serves the same mission: to shape a better Cedar Rapids. Courtney Ball, co-founder and community development director, shares the story of this impactful organization that provides the programs, opportunities, and education needed to improve the health of people and neighborhoods.
Innovation in Ministry — From Fresh Expressions to microchurches to incarnational ministries, United Methodists are discovering new ways to be church. Newly appointed as a strategy and innovation coordinator for the Minnesota Conference, Rev. Erica Koser invites participants to share the new ways they are seeking to be church and build beloved community in their contexts. She shares her story of serving as the executive director and pastor for Connections Ministry and Shelter church, as well as the work emerging through her new role to re-center evangelistic focus, bolster racial justice initiatives, and resource leadership development efforts.
Practical Church Leadership — In 2018, Dakota Wesleyan University partnered with the Dakotas Conference to address the growing need for strategic and administrative leadership development. The Non-Profit Church Leadership Certificate program (now called Practical Church Leadership Certificate) was created. Dr. Alisha Vincent, professor and program developer, guides a discussion around preparing leaders to adapt and manage churches in today’s environments where business and nonprofit acumen are imperative. She also shares what they’ve learned by evaluating outcomes and feedback from participants from 7 annual conferences as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Regionalization – Educating toward Ratification — The 2024 General Conference passed historic legislation related to the worldwide structure of The United Methodist Church. This legislation includes several constitutional amendments requiring annual and central conference ratification. Rev. Dee Stickley-Miner and George Howard lead a discussion about ideas and strategies for providing your annual conference membership with tools and resources to move forward with ratification.
