Clergy Conference 2014

The Rev. Mary Frances – Facilitator The Rev. Craig Van Gelder – Facilitator

Fran McKendree – Musician

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Session 1Overview and Setting the Context

The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior

Bishop, Episcopal Church in Minnesota

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Missional Innovative Partnerships

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Gospel Based Discipleship

Contemporary English Version:God was kind and let me become and expert builder. I laid a foundation on which others have built.

But we must each be careful how we build, because Christ is the only foundation. Whatever we build on that foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if

we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw.

New Revised Standard Version:According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and

someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now

if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire,

and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

The Message:Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I

designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid:

Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it

doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive – but just barely.

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

1 Corinthians 3:10-13

The Rev. Craig Van Gelder

Craig Van Gelder serves as professor of congregational mission at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and is an

ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church. He combines practical and academic approaches in helping students lead congregations in mission, drawing on his

experience in working as a consultant for over thirty years in assisting congregations in strategic planning and

processes of organizational change. (www.themissionalnetwork.com)

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

The Rev. Mary Frances

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Frances, an ELCA pastor, is assistant director for the development of new congregations in Evangelical Outreach

and Congregational Mission. A native of the Chicago area, she lives in Naperville, Ill., with her husband, Kent Christianson. She served three congregations in the Chicago area prior to

her work at the churchwide offices. Mary is an avid yogi, teaching and practicing yoga several times a week.

(www.thelutheran.org)

Fran McKendree

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Fran McKendree grew up in rural Connecticut where he began to play guitar and, very reluctantly, sing. In high school, a trio he’d joined won a talent contest, first prize being a slot on a

folk music radio show, and he was hooked.

Emerging from a soul searching period, he began to work under the aegis of the Episcopal church. He has continued to

develop and explore his calling; doing concerts, as music leader and coordinator for conferences, keynote presenter,

mentor, and workshop leader.

He has released several CDs, as well as producing recordings for other artists at his Teerivane Studios in Hendersonville,

NC, where he and his wife Diana now live. (www.franmckendree.com)

Clergy Conference 2014

The Rev. Mary Frances – Facilitator The Rev. Craig Van Gelder – Facilitator

Fran McKendree – Musician

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Session 2Story Matters

Identifying the story of a faith community in the context of scripture and understanding its use in cultivating mission. We will explore ways to identify your story,

dwell in the scriptural stories and then use your story to strengthen your engagement with God’s mission.

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Amanda Ziebell-FinleyMissioner for Mission

“We need to distinguish between the stories that give meaning to our lives and help us find our voice, and those that limit our possibility.”

(Block)

“Stories help to transform the mundane reality of our everyday lives into a reality fraught with purpose and meaning… Stories help us sustain

hope in the future.” (Williams)

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Clergy Conference 2014

The Rev. Mary Frances – Facilitator The Rev. Craig Van Gelder – Facilitator

Fran McKendree – Musician

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Session 3Reading the Context

Overview of various tools a faith

community can use to learn their

context focusing mainly on the one-to-one relational

meeting and power mapping.

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Rolf Lowenberg-DeBoerMissioner for Community Engagement

Alan Roxburgh writes in Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood,

"A radical way we can re-form Christian life in our time is by the simple decision to reconnect with our neighborhoods, by asking what God is doing there.”

He goes on to say, “…the focus must be on the local contexts as the venues for discerning and engaging (God’s) future.”

"As long as there is poverty, disease, unemployment, despair, and the like, the voice of God asks the primal question, "Where are you?" God would have our hope meet the world's needs." (Peter Steinke)

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Clergy Conference 2014

The Rev. Mary Frances – Facilitator The Rev. Craig Van Gelder – Facilitator

Fran McKendree – Musician

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Session 4Leadership Development

How do you find the right people for the right

position? What if we used a 1 person-1

passion-1 position model to prevent burnout and

help people live into their call in the midst of

daily life?This would include

models for leadership that allow for nimble, responsive, Missional

leadership.Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Karen Olson Rev. Susan Daughtry Missioner for Ministry Missioner for Formation

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

“I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until that moment I was lifted and

struck.”-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at

Tinker Creek

“Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy

meets the world’s greatest need.”

-Theologian Frederick Buechner

Clergy Conference 2014

The Rev. Mary Frances – Facilitator The Rev. Craig Van Gelder – Facilitator

Fran McKendree – Musician

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Session 5Creating the Roadmap

Using tools such as the SWOT analysis, asset mapping and

APA (Achieve/Preserve/Avoid), participants will

begin to develop SMART goals to help them move toward

their God’s preferred future for the

ministry. Remember, the Missional

Assessment Process (MAP) is another

resource available to faith communities.

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

The Rev. Michael PipkinMissioner for Missional Management

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Clergy Conference 2014

The Rev. Mary Frances – Facilitator The Rev. Craig Van Gelder – Facilitator

Fran McKendree – Musician

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use

Mission Matters: Tools You Can Use