Equipping, empowering, connecting, and celebrating the churches of the Michigan Conference

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Part Time is Real Time

by Lillian Daniel

Michigan Conference Minister

I recall when I started in ministry, my mentors were fond of saying “There is no such thing as part time ministry.” They assumed most pastors would and should work full time in one church back in the ancient days when phones were still attached to walls and had not yet learned how to be cameras. 


How things have changed. As a pastor, and now as a Conference Minister, I see the shift to part time ministry speeding up. As churches get smaller, so do resources. Part time ministry is nothing new, but I know it feels new to the churches and clergy that are moving into it.


In the worst cases, clergy hours are cut but church expectations remain the same. The “dispensable hours” never seem to fall on Sundays when pastors are still expected to show up to preach in an ever-shortening work week that assumes a serious sermon will still sprout straight from the head of Zeus or, God help us, from an A.I. chat bot. Obviously that is not the ideal and we can do better. 


This is why I am so excited to bring the nation’s leading expert on part time ministry to the Michigan Conference for a special event on September 30.


Spoiler alert: If you want to turn back the clock and protect the church’s past from the future, this event may not be for you. If you are depressed about the state of the church and you want to stay that way, you will find no commiserating or complaining here. But if you are ready to be constructively challenged and inspired, sign up with a team of lay and clergy, because ever since the Reformation that has been the winning combination in church history.


A part-time UCC pastor himself, author Jeffrey MacDonald is unapologetically excited about the new thing God is doing in the church right now. He will bring best practices and real stories of creativity to inspire you.


Week after week, as I visit congregations in the Michigan Conference, I am already inspired! I see so many cases where part time ministry has invigorated the congregation and clergy. I see lay leaders stepping up to preach, volunteering to pray at meetings, visiting the sick and sharing their gifts. I see pastors setting boundaries, not because they planned to, but because their other job compels them to. This ends up being healthy and even freeing. I see people considering a vocation to ministry without having to give up the calling they may already have in another career.


But the best examples are still found in the Bible. When Jesus called the first disciples to drop their nets and follow him, he didn’t tell them to stop by Human Resources on the way out to make their resignations official. There’s a reason so many of Jesus’ sermons and miracles took place at sea and on boats. These people were still working their day jobs!


Was the apostle Paul a tentmaker on the side? Or was the tentmaker Paul an apostle on the side? I reject the whole question. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit does anything in our lives on the side. 


Thank you for the real time ministry you all do in the Michigan Conference.


I pray this event on September 30 will be a blessing to you. 

Feel free to use or share this message to serve and uplift the church.

Register for September 30
  • Copy of the Book and lunch are included with in-person registration


  • Free for Part Time clergy


  • online participation also available


  • recording available for 30 days for all registered participants to share with their local churches


  • $25 for 3 or more attendees from your local church

Bring a TEAM of your lay leaders!!

Register for September 30

Upcoming Preaching Schedule & Worship Visits

Lillian Daniel, Michigan Conference Minister 

August


6th:  Preach - First Congregational UCC, Charlotte

13th:  Preach - Peoples Church of Flint

20th:  Preach - Bostwick Lake Congregational UCC, Rockford

27th:  OFF


September


3rd:  OFF

10th:  Preach - Community Congregational UCC, Pinckney, MI

17th:  Preach - First Congregational UCC, Cadillac, MI

24th:  Preach - First Congregational UCC, Ypsilanti, MI


LINK TO ALL 2023-2024 DATES

Local churches should contact Lisa@michucc.org 

to schedule a visit with the Conference Minister

Opportunity to equip

Lay Leaders for preaching


Sunday by Sunday: Weekly Preaching and Worship Leadership through the Damascus Project


For lay leaders, seekers, authorized ministers and people exploring authorized ministry


September 5-October 31, 2023

including four zoom sessions on Tuesday evenings

September 5, 19, October 10 and 24


Scholarship Funding available through Vital Growth Funds - contact Rev Cheryl Burke


In this Ministry Studies Module you will:

· Consider the ‘four pages of the sermon’ and learn a prayerful process for weekly preaching, including practice preaching a sermon if desired.

· Consider the sermon’s place in the larger worship liturgy and learn a process for weekly and seasonal worship planning.


FIND OUT MORE

Visit The Damascus Project

Michigan Conference Annual Meeting


Saturday October 28

9:00am-3:00pm


Plymouth UCC, Grand Rapids


Keynote about church vitality and revitalization with

Rev. Dr. Claire Bamberg

REGISTRATION COMING SOON


Hotel Block for attendees who are traveling

Michigan Conference United Church of Christ

Group number 10064522

Drury Inn and Suites Grand Rapids

5175 28th Street SE

Grand Rapids, MI 49512

616-942-8511


Like Michigan Conference UCC on Facebook 
www.michucc.org