Mission Centered Ministry

Description:  Staying focused on the mission of "making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world" is essential for being a fruitful congregation.  The afternoon of this seminar will explore with participants a variety of issues around the mission.  Included are the factors that cause congregations to make decisions and plan ministries that are more reflective of personal preference and comfort than the mission of Jesus Christ.  The seminar will then center on the importance and process of developing spiritual leaders that can help a congregation stay centered on the mission.  The specific process that will be discussed and detailed is out of our Wesleyan heritage that was at the core of the Methodist movement when laity were dynamically involved in the living out of the mission.  That process is the class meeting, where a model of a 21st century class meeting with its key factors will be experienced and clarified.  This seminar will also give practical tools for aligning ministry consistently with the mission, especially at the times of planning and reporting -- including results based ministry descriptions for the sake of the mission.

In the evening, this seminar will focus attention on developing a congregation's ability to do the work of evangelism.  The process shared is a model of developing in stages the competencies and confidence for persons to share their faith in Jesus Christ -- using the educational system as an analogy.  The model starts with "elementary school" evangelism which is service evangelism -- using service as a means of evangelism.  Then, participants will explore "middle school" evangelism of faith sharing in their small groups.  After that comes the "high school" evangelism of testimonies in worship.  Next is "college level" evangelism of invitational evangelism and proven strategies to engage the congregation in inviting others.  And finally, then comes "graduate school" evangelism -- sharing our faith with someone not of faith in order to help them come to faith.  And by following this simple process one step at a time, a congregation can be developed to do the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world consistently and well!

Leader

Dr. Doug Anderson is the executive director of the Bishop Rueben Job Center for Leadership Development at Dakota Wesleyan University and also Associate Director for Congregational Development for the Indiana Annual Conference.  He was a district superintendent and pastor of several growing churches of different sizes in the United Methodist Church.  He has led a variety of practical church seminars and consultations for over 25 years.  He is a member of the Academy for Spiritual Formation of the Upper Room.  He has taught at the United Methodist School of Congregational Development (including Copenhagen, Denmark) for the last 6 years -- and taught an intensive and a ministry track again this year in Chicago, Illinois.  he is the coauthor with Bishop Michael Coyner of the award winning book The Race to Reach Out (Abingdon Press).  And best of all, his seminars are energetic, effective, and fun.

Dates and Places

This seminar  will be held on the following dates and locations.  Click on a location for further information.

If your church or conference would be interested in hosting or sponsoring this seminar, please click on the "Sponsor Info" button or text link for information.