M&MC Highlights: From Discomfort to Discovery

by Anita Wright

When we entered the opening gathering for the May Mission & Ministries Commission meeting, we were told to bring our chairs into the inner part of the room. There we sat in a semi-circle. It created a discomfort around the room because it was not what we were used to doing. Everyone waited for the activity to begin…and you could feel the palpable tension as we waited for this activity to be over so we could return to our normal seats. Yet, it never happened. As I squelched my complaints about why this did not create a productive meeting space in which I could take notes for my reporting, I began to shift my perspective. I began to fully engage the process at hand. This was no longer an activity to be endured, but I could see the value in it.

Welcome to New Mission & Ministry Commission Representatives!

By Nancy Talbot

The 2019 January 25-26 Synod Mission & Ministries Commission meeting began the next two-year term for presbytery representatives. As we said farewell to some representatives at the November 2018 meeting, we welcomed at this meeting people elected for the first time to represent their presbyteries. You can see that the new members bring a wealth of experience, gifts, and talents to the Commission that will enhance the Synod’s work over the next two years.

M&MC Highlights: Synod Says Farewell

By Nancy Talbot

With the term cycle shift approaching with the new year, at its November 2018 meeting, the Mission & Ministries Commission (M&MC) thanked the Commission members and Synod officers who are rotating off its roles and bid them farewell. We are so grateful for their gifts, their service, and their ministry! We will miss each of them, but know that we will continue to see and hear from them in other contexts across the Synod.

Missional Structures – A Journey Into Our Future

By Harold Delhagen

One of the primary responsibilities of a Synod is to serve and care for its member presbyteries. In our New Way Forward, the manner in which this responsibility is carried out has changed significantly. Our values now call us to focus on serving rather than directing, listening rather than telling, and working from as close to our grassroots (congregations) as possible. This work is shaped by careful listening.

Over the more than five years since we have started on this New Way Forward it has become clear that most of our 22 presbyteries are struggling to find new ways to meet their own calling. Every presbytery has experienced shifts in demographics, changes or confusion in what is expected from leaders, as well as loss of membership and financial resources. Almost every presbytery has been engaged in creative experimentation in finding new ways to meet this sea change.

As our Synod Mission Team works among our presbyteries, it became clear that we are at a Kairos moment.

Blog & Updates

by Anita Wright

By Nancy Talbot

By Nancy Talbot

By Harold Delhagen

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