Vital Ministries:  Exploding Presumptions; Exploring Possibilities

Presenter:  C. Jeff Woods, Ph.D.

Associate General Secretary for Regional Ministries, ABCUSA

 

During the morning session, participants will have an opportunity to explore findings related to church health and church growth.

With so much written about church growth and church health, it can be difficult to sort out the hunches from reality in order to know what works and does not work in promoting church health and congregational renewal.  In this workshop, Dr. Woods draws from his involvement on the “Pulpit and Pew” project as well as numerous research papers presented at the Religious Research Association in order to respond to questions such as: 

• What are the marks of a healthy church?
• What are some common and rare forms of community ministry?
• What is the relationship between church health and church growth?
• How much do church size and location influence its ability to grow?
• What inspires a person to visit a church, return, and eventually get involved?
• How are New Paradigm and megachurches doing at reaching the unchurched? 

The afternoon session will further explore the strategies from the morning session that make a difference such as clarifying the focus of the congregation.  The material for the afternoon session will draw from Woods’ most recent book (due out in 2008 from Chalice Press) entitled “The Agility Model.”  For a church or region to be agile, it must have strength, speed, and balance.  During this hands-on coaching session, Dr. Woods guides the participants through the process of clarifying identity, discerning vision, narrowing missional priorities and producing results.  Come and explore topics such as: 

• How do we decide what to keep, abandon, and create?
• How can our motto serve as a window to our vision?
• How do we build ownership for our vision?
• Are we a modality or a sodality?
• How do we match our resources to the needs of the community?

~PROGRAM POSSIBILITY

NEW YORK STATE MINISTERS COUNCIL RETREAT

The New York State Ministers Council held a retreat on “Vital Ministries: Exploding Presumptions; Exploring Possibilities,” with presenter C. Jeff Woods, Ph.D., Associate General Secretary for Regional Ministries, ABCUSA.

According to one participant, "Jeff's presentations were solid and I came out of there with some good ideas. He's very personable and does an excellent job of framing things with/in Scripture. Generally speaking, most of the pastors are really struggling with being over committed, under-resourced (in more than just financial ways), and in need of some encouraging words. Jeff provided the last piece in abundance, as well as practical suggestions for the first two."

 

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