Last week, (August 22-27) Bethany Lutheran Church in
Cherry Hills Village, CO, served as a Church-wide learning center for over 300
registered to attend the ELCA Congregational Development Training Conference.
This semiannual event is usually housed in a hotel, but Bethany opened its doors
for this training that included several firsts.
There were an historic number
of Mission Developer and leadership training “tracks” that included:
· African National New Start ministries
· Asian Ministries, New Starts—a first
· Churches starting Churches track
· Homeless and Justice ministries
· Latino/Latina ministries: REDIL (Ecumenical Network of
Latino/Latina Church Development including ELCA, Episcopal, UCC and PCUSA
leaders)
· Multicultural Urban New Starts
· Postmodern New Starts
· Prison Congregations of America
· Recovery Ministries—another first!
The training included a cohort from congregational leaders and Pastor Redevelopers in Redevelopment ministries from around the ELCA.
On Friday, August 25,
there was a MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP DAY –A Day of Shared Gifts and Learning, where
Pastors and other leaders from congregations around the greater Denver area
participated in over 25 workshops. Worship at the end of that “Pentecost Day”
included preaching by our own Bishop Jim Gonia and commissioning of the new
Mission Developers and Redevelopers.
The weeklong
training truly celebrated what it means to be “Christ’s Church, better together”
in a multicultural, changing and exhilarating environment.
Comments
Post a Comment