Training Tuesdays offer focus on vitality
Drawing together experts from throughout the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences and beyond, this fall’s Training Tuesday webinars will provide local churches with valuable resources as they grow in vitality.
The Rev. Bill Brown, who hosts the webinars, works with congregations throughout the conferences. In this work, he said, “I’ve learned that our clergy and laity want to be a part of a vital church but may not know what that looks like or how to get from where they are to vitality. Perhaps it's because our culture has defined vitality as the number of people we attract to our buildings and the amount of offering we collect. But what if we look to Jesus as our example of vitality?”
Redefining and reclaiming a renewed sense of vitality will be one of the major emphases of Training Tuesdays this fall.
“By our modern metrics Jesus' ministry might not be considered vital,” Brown said. “He occasionally attracted large crowds, but most of his time was spent with 70 or less people, mainly 12-20 and often with just three. Also while we are convinced that 99% of our ministry needs to take place in our buildings, 99 percent of Jesus' ministry took place outside the walls of the Temple, the church building of his day. His ministry took place in fields and on the water; in homes and on hillsides; he went to where the people were and didn't wait for them to come to him. And his focus was on helping people build relationships with others and grow in their relationship with God. With this as our focus we will begin our journey toward vitality.”
The Training Tuesday sessions, held via Zoom, will focus on the affiliation’s Pillars of Vitality. These include: see all the people, deepen discipleship, love like Jesus loved, and multiply impact.
The schedule includes: (click on the date to register)
- Sept. 20 – Getting Started on a Congregational Vitality Pathway with Readiness 360
- Sept. 27 – See all the People, an overview of the free MissionInsite tool
- Oct. 11 – See all the People, community prayer and how to conduct relational 1:1s
- Oct. 25 – Deepings Discipleship, Creating an intentional discipleship pathway/process
- Nov. 8 – Deepening Discipleship – On-boarding people onto the pathway
- Nov. 15 – Live and Love Like Jesus
- Nov. 29 – Multiply Your Impact
- Dec. 13 – Statistical Report Training
- Jan. 10 – Change Management
Training Tuesdays is also offering archives of past sessions to assist those wanting to learn more about serving on church committees.
One word that does not appear in the Gospels or Letters is the word "volunteer," Brown said. "Those who serve in the church are servant leaders, and one indicator of successful service is adequate training. Our past episodes of Training Tuesdays are now available on demand so that you can provide quality training to your servant leaders who will begin their new or continuing roles on January 1.
On the Training Tuesday’s archive page, click on the “Categories” button to see sessions on Finance, Trustees, Nomination Church Council, Staff-Parish Relations Committee, and much more.
Previous Training Tuesdays Sessions for those Serving on Committees
Church Council
The One Board Model – December 14, 2021
The Simplified Accountable Structure – November 17, 2020
Unified Board – January 7, 2020
Church Council – November 20, 2019
Finance
Finance – November 19, 2019
Finance – November 16, 2021
Trustees
Trustees – November 23, 2021
Trustees – November 12, 2019
Staff-Parish Relations Committee – SPRC/PPRC
SPRC – December 7, 2021
SPRC – November 5, 2019
Nominations
Nominations – November 24, 2020
Nominations – December 3, 2019