Abundant Health: Mental Health First Aid

Presenter:  Local Mental Health First Aid Provider, Harford County Public Health
Supported by: Robin Stokes, Community Outreach Coordinator, UM: Upper Chesapeake
Baltimore Region on March 7 

Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.

Topics Covered: Depression and mood disorders - Anxiety disorders - Trauma - Psychosis - Substance Use disorders - Mental Health First Aid teaches about recovery and resiliency – the belief that individuals experiencing these challenges can and do get better and use their strengths to stay well.

Abundant Health: Discovering a Pathway to Peace when Life Feels Off Track

Presenter: James Tate 
Southern Region on March 14

Are you feeling bogged down by your past, discouraged about your present and unclear about the future?  God cares about your emotional and spiritual well-being. God wants you to experience joy, hope and peace every single day. Christians and unbelievers alike deal with depression and other mental and emotional illnesses, but there is hope! Jesus promises and provides an abundant life – a life full of joy, peace, and purpose.  

This session utilizes the Living Compass resources.  Living Compass is based on the belief that there is a deep, life-giving connection between faith and wellness.  Our faith acts like a compass to help us check our bearings while at the same time proving ongoing direction for our lives.  It is also based on the belief that we cannot be well by ourselves; this journey toward wellness requires the care and support of others.  Learn from a pastor and leader who have intentionally connected the community with a pathway to discipleship through holistic wellness ministry.

Abundant Health:  Health Ministry 911

Presenters: Dr.  Janet Fujikawa / Dr. Tom Pruski
Washington Region – March 7, 2020
Western Region – March 14, 2020

The health message is a vital part of God’s last day message to the world. When done effectively, it opens the way for people of all backgrounds to accept the gospel truths. This session will look at the keys to planning for and implementing a power-filled health ministry at your church. This session will cover the following areas: Introduction to faith and health, health ministry models, communication and organizing for health ministry. 

Participants in this course will have the opportunity to participate with a cohort to take a deeper dive into understanding what it takes to prepare your congregation and community for a health ministry and the steps necessary to be an asset to the Kingdom of God.  In attending this workshop, individuals will be introduced on how to start and begin to sustain a health ministry in their local church or community.

Deepening Discipleship: Creating a Discipleship Pathway for Your Church

Presenter: Ken Willard
Washington Region on March 7
Author, coach, consultant, trainer and curriculum developer who will be teaching on the essentials of one of the books he collaborated on: Stride: Creating a Discipleship Pathway for Your Church

Churches of all types around the country are struggling. The more programs they try the more evident it becomes that there is no quick fix or secret formula to help them out of their rut. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement, once said, “The way to keep a Methodist alive is to keep him moving.”

It is time to recapture this simple yet profound truth and get back to the basics of making fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Learn from someone who has developed and launched a highly successful pathway to discipleship in their church (Morning Star UMC, in St.Louis) about how to create a successful discipleship pathway for your own particular contexts, based on the principles developed at Morning Star.

Willard shares the process of developing a discipleship pathway that meets individual people where they are. You will see examples of each element and practical instruction on how to plan, implement and sustain the discipleship pathway. 

Sacred Rhythms: Rearranging Our Lives for Deepened Discipleship

Presenters: Revs. Stacey Cole Wilson and John Nupp
Baltimore Region on March 7

Presenters: Revs. Kendrick Weaver and John Nupp
Western Region on March 14

Do you long for a sustainable, deep, fundamental change in your life with God? Do you wonder how you might truly live your life as God created you to live it? 

Christian leaders are disciples first and yet often the tasks can overshadow the fundamentals. In this track, give yourself the gift of putting your relationship with God through Jesus Christ first through developing a rule of life following the contours of our holistic Wesleyan Discipleship. As Marjorie Thompson explains, “A rule of life is a pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and direction for growth in holiness…. It fosters gifts of the Spirit in personal life and human community, helping to form us into the persons God intends us to be." So that we might better live into our discipleship in the Wesleyan Spirit: to witness to Jesus Christ in the world and to follow His teachings through acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Drawing on many traditions and cultures, participants are guided into developing practices that reveal the abundant life that Christ offers while glorifying God.

Deepening Discipleship: Building Healthy Intentional Discipleship Pathways

Presenter: Rev. Evan Young
Southern Region on March 14

Learn the basic principles behind See All The People, a movement to help us as United Methodists understand what discipleship and evangelism mean in the 21st century. Engage in discovering whose job it is to make disciples, how to stop fixing problems, and how discipleship begins with relationship. 

Through sharing a variety of models and approaches to build and sustain healthy, intentional discipleship pathways, you will be inspired and equipped to do the same in your congregation. 

Generosity Generators: Creating a Culture of Generosity

Presenters: Rev. Dr. Daryl Williams, Senior Pastor, St Paul UMC, Oxon Hill, Md.
Washington Region on March 7
Southern Region on March 14

Ministry keeps becoming more expensive and funding ministry continues to become more challenging. These challenges can cause a constant low level of anxiety for ministry leaders as they seek to make their ministry visions into a reality and faithfully serve their community. This presentation will give you the tools to curb your anxiety, create a culture of generosity, and have a ministry funding plan so that you can faithfully live into the vision you have for ministry.  Join Dr. Williams for a fun and exciting time of learning and growth. 

Generosity Generators: 13 Generosity Mistakes to Avoid (and what to do instead) 

Presenter: Frank Robert
Baltimore Region on March 7
Western Region on March 14 

Lessons from our Churches that can help us do it better! We will discuss what mistakes to avoid and what Generosity Generators we should install in our Churches. Our goal is to begin to understand how to move the Financial Culture from “Paying the bills” to Funding Future Mission and Ministry.  We will culminate our time by drafting our future Generosity team! We will discuss at least 13 things your church could be doing to generate more Resources. It is time to THRIVE not just Survive!

Next Level Leaders: Revitalizing God’s Vision for Your Congregation  

Presenter: Rev. Dr. Malcolm Stranathan
Baltimore on March 7
Western on March 14

It is said, “where there is no vision the people perish!”  And yet, whose vision are we called to implement? Revitalizing or discerning God’s vision for your congregation is best accomplished through a collaborative process in which ownership of God’s vision is discerned, promoted and implemented by the congregational leadership and subsequently owned by the local congregation. 

This workshop is intended to teach, equip and encourage next level leaders to bring out the greatest potential from them and their local congregation, context and community. To get the best out of this workshop, several leaders (clergy and lay) from a local congregation are encouraged to participate together so that God’s vision, an action plan, an implementation schedule and evaluation tool for existing ministries can be developed.  We will exchange ideas, share experiences and develop new relationships and leave inspired for God’s Vision and next steps for your congregation. Leaders will explore resources, learning labs and next level leader networks.

Next Level Leaders:  Multi-Generational Leadership for the 22nd Century

Presenter:  Dr. Rodney Smothers:  Author, Coach and Director of Leadership and Congregational Development for the Baltimore-Washington Conference
Washington Region - March 7
Southern Region - March 14

Our future will require collaborative communities that are multi-generational, multicultural, and theologically diverse.  Our new tribes will gather in new ways and be led by Next Level Leaders who intentionally invest in learning and leading others through innovation, influence, and spiritual impact. Traditions will be incorporated into new expressions through shared cultural and contextual values. This blended leadership context will include multi-generational teams, new rules of Millennials and Generation Z., Communication in a digital world, Communities vs. Institutions, Storytelling and Vision, Coaching for Transformation, Healthy Habits, and learning from innovative organizations beyond the church.  Participants will create new ministry models for the 22nd Century Church Movement.

Are you looking to breathe new life into your congregation or perhaps are you dreaming of launching a brand new church? Both begin with the same question: what is shaping your church? Is your church shaped by worship or programs, children or youth ministries or by the preferences of your current members? What if your church was shaped by the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world? What if you church was shaped by the mission of reaching people who currently don’t attend any church? If these questions make your heart sing, then join New Faith Expressions Track at the Connect Leadership Summit.

New Faith Expressions: Engaging Your Community and Making Disciples

Presenters:  Rev. Dr. Karin Walker, Senior Pastor and Annabel Lusardi, Coordinator of Discipleship Ministries, Fallston United Methodist Church
Baltimore Region on March 7 

Establish a concrete plan for your congregation to engage your community in new ways.  Design an innovative approach to “enlarging your territory” Learn from a pastor and leader who have intentionally connected the community with a pathway to discipleship.  

You will learn innovative ways to connect to the community as a process (no more “one and dones"), including:  

•         Ways to become critical to your community
•         Role of testimonies and how to do it
•         Sunday worship boosters
•         Stewardship ideas that work
•         Money ideas beyond the pews
•         The power of relationship
•         Establishing “traditions” the community didn’t know they needed
•         A discipleship model that new people can embrace
•         An appreciative approach to your location and opportunities

Time will be set aside to work on a plan for your own congregation, and participants will have the opportunity to form a cohort for future planning.

New Faith Expressions: Being a Sent People instead of an Attractional Church 

Presenter: Rev. Dr. Bill Brown, Director of New Faith Expressions, Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church
Washington Region on March 7
Western Region on March 14 

For decades, churches have operated from the mentality of “build it and they will come”. So what is “it”? Perhaps “it” is a new building or worship service, the best coffee or latest program. We have spent countless hours and resources trying to attract people to our churches and have them come to us. Instead of “come to us,” what if we embraced a new approach, “go to them”? What if we embodied Jesus’ command in 

Matthew 28:19 – “Go therefore and make disciples…” (CEB). It is time for us to discover new expressions of church that are able to communicate with a culture that is not currently a part of the church, so that they can become committed followers of Jesus Christ.  

We are at a crossroads as our society and culture continue to undergo massive transitions that have affected the church. These challenges provide us with a significant opportunity to reach new people. It begins by changing our focus beyond our building and the “come to us” approach and embrace the “we will go to you” attitude, embodying the Gospel where people are, rather than embodying it where we are and in ways we prefer.

In this track you will discover innovative ways to embrace the “micro-church movement” including:

•         The definition and theology of the “micro-church movement”
•         How to discover and engage people where they are
•         Models and methods for launching a “micro-church movement” in your context 
•         Much more…

New Faith Expressions: Being a Sent People instead of an Attractional Church 

Presenter: Deborah Johnson, New Faith Expressions Board Chairperson, Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church
Southern Region on March 14 

For decades, churches have operated from the mentality of “build it and they will come”. So what is “it”? Perhaps “it” is a new building or worship service, the best coffee or latest program. We have spent countless hours and resources trying to attract people to our churches and have them come to us. Instead of “come to us,” what if we embraced a new approach, “go to them”? What if we embodied Jesus’ command in 

Matthew 28:19 – “Go therefore and make disciples…” (CEB). It is time for us to discover new expressions of church that are able to communicate with a culture that is not currently a part of the church, so that they can become committed followers of Jesus Christ. 

We are at a crossroads as our society and culture continue to undergo massive transitions that have affected the church. These challenges provide us with a significant opportunity to reach new people. It begins by changing our focus beyond our building and the “come to us” approach and embrace the “we will go to you” attitude, embodying the Gospel where people are, rather than embodying it where we are and in ways we prefer.

In this track you will discover innovative ways to embrace the “micro-church movement” including:

•         The definition and theology of the “micro-church movement”
•         How to discover and engage people where they are
•         Models and methods for launching a “micro-church movement” in your context 
•         Much more…

YPM TRACK: GROWING IN LEADERSHIP THROUGH BOOSTING COMMUNICATION SKILLS—FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLERS

with Rev. Chris Bishop in the Washington Region (March 7) and Western Region (March 14)

with Pastor Jerome Jones in the Baltimore Region (March 7) and Southern Region (March 14)

Everyone has a story to tell. An epic adventure with a hero who saves the day.  A dramatic tale of good versus evil. A romantic comedy where in the end, everyone lives happily ever after. Whatever the story, it is yours to be told. 

And let’s not forget the greatest story ever told. The story of the one who came from humble beginnings but was recognized as a leader and king. Someone who healed the sick and chose to spend time with those living on the margins instead of in a palace with all of the riches that royalty provides. The store of the one who saved the world through life and death and continues to save lives even today. The story of Jesus Christ.

 What if we could tell our story and the story of Jesus with confidence?  Without fear or shame?  What if we could tell these stories in a way that would make others want to be a part of that story?

 At Rev. Jerome Jone’s sessions, the focus will be on “Rise Up: No More Silence.”  Youth will learn how to speak up and speak out with boldness to let their voices be heard on things that really matter to them and the world.

Join us at the Youth Track of the Connect Leadership Summit to learn a new way to tell your story and the story of Christ. Youth can attend the afternoon track for FREE at any location.

RSVP by March 6 or March 13

If youth are interested in attending the full day of the Connect Leadership Summit and need a scholarship, contact Sharonda Jones at .