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Important This Week
- Sign up now for 'How to Understand Your Community' event
- Learn what happened at last weekend's MID Academy
- Register for Tuesday's secretary training on Social Media
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Member in Discernment Academy held last weekend
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One of the goals of the PSEC 20/20 vision plan was the formation of a Member In Discernment Academy. That goal had its Genesis in consensus about the crisis of leadership that affects all levels of our community and culture and particularly the church. I have said, and will continue to say, that we must change the way we identify, train and support church leaders if we intend to change the world for good and for God.
This past weekend seventeen Members in Discernment (MIDs) traveled to The Kirkridge Retreat Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania with with seven currently serving ministers. The purpose of the weekend was to connect MIDs with each other, some of the best practitioners of parish ministry, as well as conference staff and members of Committees on Ministry. In workshops and role plays and worship, we addressed the challenges of preparing for ministry, the need for crystal clarity about the call to ministry, and how to meet gaps in preparation for serving in various ministry settings.
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I learned many things. First, our MIDs have an incredible heart for the gospel, a deep care for people and a strong desire to bring their giftedness to the brokenness of the world. Second, I learned that currently serving clergy folks understand and are equipped to train MIDs as well as any seminary faculty. Third, I learned that Members In Discernment do not have the full support of the church and that needs to change. Finally, everything that we need to meet the leadership crisis of the church is already in the church if we work together. I cannot tell you how excited and hopeful that makes me!
Bill
Rev. William P Worley
Conference Minister
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Secretary Training on Social Media will be this Tuesday
At Secretary Training in April, the group decided they wanted to meet quarterly. On Tuesday, July 24 at 12:00, the third quarter meeting will take place at Community UCC in Reading on the topic of Social Media. Bring your own lunch; the hostess will provide drinks and dessert. There is NO CHARGE for this event, but you need to
register here
.
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Prepare for emergencies: Make your church a Comfort Center
Comfort Centers are short-term -- usually only day-use locations -- where community members can go in the event on an emergency. These centers can serve as places to get information, as charging stations, as places to stay out of extreme heat or cold in the event of power outages, and as places to get water and refreshment. Check out the "
Comfort Center Guidelines
" resource on PSEC.org for information on how your church can become a registered Comfort Center.
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Register now for MissionInsite event on community analysis
Join fellow church members and discover the benefits of learning about your community and how to welcome them. A workshop – “How to Understand Your Community” – will be offered on Friday, Aug. 3 from 6:00-8:30p at Zwingli UCC, Souderton. This will train church leaders and pastors on the MissionInsite tool. MissionInsite is a mission context analysis tool for churches. It's used to receive high quality demographic research, real-time congregant analysis, and easy to use web-based discovery tools. MissionInsite is FREE for all churches in PSEC thanks to your gifts to OCWM. The workshop cost is $20/individual or $50 for a church group.
Click here
for event flyer.
Register now
.
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Search and Call Summit announced for August
Churches in the search and call are invited to the annual Search and Call summit on Saturday, Aug. 4 from 9:00a-12:00p at Zwingli UCC, Souderton. This year's theme will be "Assessing Pastoral Candidates"; learn how to avoid common mistakes made, how to check references, how to be clear on where the church is going, and best practices for interviews. The event is free to churches currently in the search process, but you must
register
so that we can have materials ready. Contact Rev. Sharon Morris (
morris@psec.org
or 484-949-8774 ext. 302) with any questions.
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Mission teams needed at four hurricane recovery locations
Volunteer mission teams needed at multiple hurricane recovery spots
The UCC Disaster Ministries has four active hurricane recovery work sites and ALL need volunteer mission teams! Read about those sites and more in the most recent
Disaster Ministries newsletter
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New online racism curriculum now available from UCC
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Begin a journey with
Sacred Conversations to End Racism,
an updated curriculum from a 2008 online UCC curriculum:
Sacred Conversations on Race
. The updated curriculum is introduced in four phases. Each phase is six to eight weeks and is intended to lead participants into conversations leading to sustainable actions that are historical and foundational to the
how
race was constructed,
who
constructed and sanctioned race as model for American society, and
what
role the Christian Church played in supporting the division of humanity by skin color. Check out the free online curriculum
here
.
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Church Openings
St. Peter, Knauertown: part-time beginning ASAP
Tinicum, Pipersville: part-time beginning ASAP
Trinity, Rehrersburg: part-time beginning August
Wyomissing, Gouglersville
: part-time beginning ASAP
If you’re interested in a position, contact Rev. Sharon Morris:
morris@psec.org
or 484-949-8774 ext. 302.
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Classified Ads
Submit your Classified Ads
here
View a complete list of Classified Ads
here
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Church Events
Submit your Church Events
here
View a complete list of Church Events
here
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Educational Opportunities
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Missed a week? Read past eNews here:
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