Transforming Ministries II Conference

Transforming Ministries II Conference
By Pastor Karen Yokota | Photos by Amy Pazan

It was a rich opportunity as a new pastor in the Pacific Northwest to attend The Transforming Ministries Conference II. TM2 was held on July 23-25 at Wesley Homes in Des Moines, Wash. This Conference brought together new & experienced United Methodist pastors, district superintendents, bishops, professors and theologians from different annual conferences to participate in a three-day intensive study about the best practices in ministry, from introductory to emerging. Keynote speakers facilitated discussions and were supported by field trip exposures around the Seattle Area showcasing innovative ministries in action.

Alan Hirsch, Lillian Daniel, and Phillip Clayton served as lecturers for Transforming Ministries II. Here are some of the points provided by these guest speakers.

Hirsch is the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network. He co-leads Future Travelers, which helps megachurches become “missional movements.”

• Hirsch lectured on the concept of discipleship and leadership.
• For effective leadership in the church one needs to be genuinely Christian, always reflecting “Christianlikeness”. This begins by becoming more like Jesus and having Jesus live within.
• “If we fail in the area of making disciples, we should not be surprised if we fail in the area of leadership development,” Hirsch says.
• “I think many of the problems that the church faces in trying to cultivate missional leadership…would be resolved if we were to focus the solution to the problem…of discipleship, first.”
• He quotes Neil Cole who says, “If you can’t reproduce disciples, you can’t reproduce leaders. If you can’t reproduce leaders, you can’t reproduce churches. If you can’t reproduce churches, you can’t reproduce movements.”
• Hirsch recommends using the BELLS model (see sidebar) and using ethical monotheism, or developing an ethical relationship with God.
• Most of the fundamental things in life are acted and then internalized; therefore, they are learned by action. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, then just do it. You’ll learn it, that way.”

Lillian Daniel is a pastor, teacher and a writer serving as senior minister of First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author of “When Spiritual But Not Religious is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church”. Lillian Daniel believes that a main problem of the Christian church is that we live in a culture of narcissism.

• “Our culture has been hijacked…we are totally focused on narcissism,” she states. “…We don’t even recognize it because that is the culture of narcissism. And with part of the culture of narcissism, it has become acceptable to trivialize religion and the church.
• In order to shift the image of the church, we need to have more people telling their own stories. Daniel values the importance of storytelling and empowering people to share their faith. People need to feel the spirit and talk about it in order to get on board.

Philip Clayton is Dean of Claremont School of Theology and Provost of Claremont Lincoln University in California. Clayton offered a very unorthodox and engaging lesson.

Clayton facilitated an interactive discussion, presenting everyone with 10 case studies, each requiring interactive discussion. Some of the case studies included topics such as “Breaking the Rules, and Working with What you Have” and “Great Ideas and Experiments that Didn’t Succeed.”

Clayton was able to ignite the room after two intensive days of learning and get an excited group of clergy sharing ideas and thinking of new ideas. Overall, this conference offered a valuable opportunity to connect and meet with new clergy from other conferences as well as have the opportunity to be inspired by real-world faith in action.

Out of our attendees, a large representation came from Rocky Mountain, Desert Southwest, Cal-Nevada, Cal-Pac, Oregon-Idaho, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest conferences.

Follow-up to this conference includes online peer learning group/touch-base meetings every other month until people reunite for Part III of Transforming Ministries tentatively scheduled for July 22-24, 2014.

Transforming Ministries served to be an educational, adventurous, and valuable experience for those working to make their ministries vital in their communities.

Karen Yokota serves as pastor for Milton and Whitney Memorial United Methodist Churches.
Amy Pazan is a young adult member of Aldersgate UMC (Bellevue, Wash.)

During the duration of the conference, participants had the opportunity to see how Transforming Ministries is applied through four choices of field trips. Each location featured was a different way of doing ministry making a difference in the lives of its respective local Seattle community.

Valley & Mountain 5623 Rainier Ave. S • Seattle, WA 98118 Valley and Mountain is a spiritual community/church in Rainier Valley. Their mission is to build a radically hospitable community, rooted in grace, which practices deep listening and creative liberation. This new church start has just moved into a new space shared with Community Arts Create, a non-profit that works with the community to create cultural competency through art of all forms. The partners intend to offer a hospitable gathering space for neighborhood meetings and events, fostering a strong and healthy community.

Homeless Remembrance Project Third and Lenora St. • Seattle, WA 98112 Leaves of Remembrance is a collaborative effort between faith community leaders, homeless women, artists and social service providers to honor and memorialize homeless individuals who have died outdoors or as a result of violence through bronze leaf installations throughout Seattle. The leaves correspond to the Tree of Life sculpture and community gathering place in Victor Steinbrueck Park. Taken together, the leaves and Tree of Life set a precedent as the world’s first permanent, civically sanctioned homeless memorial.

The Well 1606 Fifth Avenue W. • Seattle, WA 98119 At the Well, nationally and internationally respected leaders facilitate conversation, offer presentations, and lead those assembled in respectful, engaged discourse. For over a year Queen Anne United Methodist Church has offered a high-quality series of lectures, concerts and forums at this space. Topics covered have included: food, contemplative spirituality, earth justice, human rights, poverty, and re-imagining the present and future of Christianity. The Well stands as an example of engaging the wider mission field; “the Well strives to create the hoped-for birth of a community exploring a shared rule of life.”

Julia’s Place 832 32nd Avenue • Seattle, WA 98122 Confronting a shocking lack of shelter for homeless families, Mary’s Place (a day shelter program) launched a rotating night shelter now hosted and staffed by 13 congregations. With the offer of a permanent space at Madrona Grace Presbyterian Church, Julia’s Place was opened to provide emergency overnight shelter for up to five families.

Channels 65 is NOW AVAILABLE The Weapons Free Zone Conversation, Transforming Ministries II, 100 Years of Filipino-American Methodism in North America, US-2 Young Adult Missionaries, Bishop: Imagine No Malaria, Elders: Safe Sanctuary, On Church Accessibility. Subscribe now! E-mail channels@pnwumc.org.