Church and Community Transformation

“Like all organizations, you have fallen into certain patterns of operation, some good and some not… you have two choices: to continue to do what you always have done or to reorganize…” Michael Gecan, Professional Community Organizer of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation

If Michael Gecan’s statement resonated with you then, you are invited to one of three basic trainings - Church and Community Transformation - offered by Dr. Angela Cowser, Associate Dean of Black Church Studies and DMin programs at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, and the “Thriving Congregations” Cohort members.

In this two day training, you will be introduced to some basics of church and community transformation, to begin to discern the role of the congregation or charge that you are part of in this work, and to learn how this is part of what God calls us to when we pray “Thy kingdom come.” 

It is highly recommended that participants come in teams that have both clergy and lay.   Lay members should be leaders within the church- not limited to ‘official’ leaders but those dedicated and faithful leaders who believe in the power of the church and who will be listened to in the broader congregation. Cost is just $15 at person!

Register you and your team for one of the following workshops. The workshops are hosted in three district but people from all districts are welcome and encouraged to attend:

Sept 23-24 at Wedgewood UMC (Akron, OH) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/395914580167

Oct 14-15 at Union Ave UMC (Alliance, OH) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/395921079607

Nov 11-12 at Church Hill UMC (Youngstown, OH) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/church-and-community-transformation-tickets-395926275147

Strategic Ministries

New Online Learning Platform

We are excited to share with you about another tool that your Connectional Ministries Office now has to help resource you and your church as we invite all to join our online learning platform! Designed for both lay and clergy this is a way to have learning happen on your own schedule. There are already many courses available from other conferences that we are in partnership with and in coming months we will be adding more and more of our own content. 

Registration is at: https://eocumc.myabsorb.com/?KeyName=EO%20Sign%20UP

We just launched our Charge Conference course. This course would be particularly helpful to new clergy or lay who have not dealt with the paperwork before. The chapters can be done in any order so they can just engage with the parts that they want. https://eocumc.myabsorb.com/#/online-courses/62d66c8a-512d-4b47-8587-349480a00f86

Among the courses, make sure to check out Rule of Christ. This resource helps learners to explore how to manage conflict in their church. While churches with new pastoral appointments should make sure to review this class, it can bring value to every faith community. https://eocumc.myabsorb.com/#/online-courses/8ba13648-889e-411c-857d-099495709b69

Rule of Christ Trainer Training - If you are interested in becoming a trainer for Rule of Christ please register here.