Leadership Development Musings: June 2016

Barbara Wise Lewczak, Minister of Leadership Development

I attend the denominations New Church Planting Conference this past weekend at Bethany with the theme “Hope Imagination Mission” with I Corinthians 3: 6, “I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God agave the growth” as the theme passage and focused on leadership in Church Planting in particular and the wider church in general.

The leadership was provided by Efrem Smith, President and CEO of World Impact, Mandy Smith, lead pastor University Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and several talented and gifted folks from our denomination

Over the next few months I will share some of what I learned during this conference.  This was by far one of my most meaningful, thought provoking, moving conferences I have attended.  I was deeply touched and moved by the experience.

Regarding “Healing Our Hope” Mandy Smith shared the following:

In ministry we have our wounds and hope is about healing our wounds by bringing our stories before God and see them as God sees them.  How we experience suffering and deep pain in our heart, like a breaking heart, a pain of the soul, a deep sadness, and hurt for the state of the community.

Mandy quoted Barbara Taylor Bradford as I paraphrase here-I have pain in my heart for the America Church for Christiandome.  I wondered if we as a church are longing for God or our intuitions.  If we just say we need God in one moment a healing can come and we realize that it was not a death pain but a birthing pain.  There are times when God can heal our story if we are obedient to the call from God. We can run towards the pain if there is a Spirit within us that helps us follow that call from God and then trust that that Spirit is availed to help us through.

I pray that we as the Northern Plains District can find a way to be there for each other to heal our pain and take all of our hurt, pain, doubts, fears, to God with that Spirit that is available to us all.  That we can be open to thinking of our pain as birthing pain and are open to what God has imagined for us in our ministries, in our congregations, in our communities, in the wider church. Open to keeping “hope” alive!  

Brothers and Sisters may we be there for each other in the weeks and months ahead praying for each other, loving each other, ministering to each other.  

Please contact Laura and/or Barbara with your thoughts and ideas about Leadership Development

Prayers to you all!