By June Galle Krehbiel for Mennonite Church USA
Pastors Day will kick off the Mennonite Church USA convention in Columbus, Ohio next summer. It will be the first convention to devote an entire day to resource pastors, according to Gilberto Flores, who is director of denominational ministry and missional church for Mennonite Church USA and serves as the denominational minister for Franconia Conference.
The theme for the event is “Pastors as Missional Leaders,” and scheduled presenters include Darrell Guder, Lois Barrett and Jim Schrag.
Keynote speaker Darrell Guder is considered one of the main leaders in the missional church movement. He is professor of the theology of mission and ecumenics and dean of academic affairs at Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian minister. His book entitled “The Continuing Conversion of the Church: Evangelization as the Heart of Ministry” received the 2001 Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy.
Lois Barrett of Wichita, Kan. will lead small group discussions. She is director and associate professor of theology and Anabaptist studies of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary–Great Plains Extension. Barrett pastored Mennonite Church of the Servant in Wichita, Kan. and has served as executive secretary of the Commission on Home Ministries for the General Conference Mennonite Church. With Darrell Guder and other writers, she authored two books with a missional theme: “Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness” and “Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America.”
Jim Schrag, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, will speak on the pastor’s role in the denomination while Gilberto Flores will facilitate all sessions.
“Pastors work hard and sometimes feel very isolated,” says Flores. “Our giving a whole day to this event will help pastors recognize its importance as well as their importance to the denomination. If pastors are not leading the local congregations into a missional imagination, it may be difficult for the congregations to move forward. Pastors are key people for the church.”
The event will create a common table for pastors during the convention week.
“We expect that pastors will engage each other and share about their own congregations, imagining together about the missional church and the future of our denomination as a missional denomination,” Flores says. “At this convention we can be in a peers meeting–not only enjoying our time with others, but building our dreams together about what God is calling us to do.”
Pastors Day will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30, 2009.
Columbus 2009 will be held in Columbus, Ohio from June 30 to July 4, 2009. Check the webs site of Mennonite Church USA for updates and registration information.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.