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Weekend Visioning Retreat for Congregational Leaders
As a General staff servant to our great denomination, the Christian
Church, (Disciples of Christ), two realizations have become very
clear to me. For Disciples congregations seeking programs to address
issues of church vitalization and congregational transformation,
Faithful Planning and Claiming God's Vision are two of the best
programs I have encountered. While ecumenical, these programs were
developed by Disciples for Disciples churches through a partnership
between Disciples Home Missions and Church Extension.
As this body of Christ moves toward its 2020 Vision, you will
hear more about Faithful Planning and Claiming God's Vision. While
these programs address revitalization and transformation issues,
they also provide a spiritual renewal component. I want to uplift
this spiritual renewal piece because it can provide helpful ideas
to congregational leaders seeking to address this issue within their
fellowships.
The program Claiming God's Vision merits more discussion. This
program can be successfully implemented through a weekend retreat
for congregational leaders. The main retreat objective is to bring
church leaders together for a weekend of spiritual reflection. It
is an opportunity to initiate spiritual renewal and transformation
of church leaders and, in turn, the entire congregation.
Given the venue of a weekend retreat with the ultimate goal of
setting in motion serious thought about the spiritual well-being
of the congregation, I caution that the outcome will only be a microcosm
of what the full Claiming God's Vision program has to offer.
To obtain this transformational program, contact the Evangelism
office of DHM or visit the Web
site, and download by clicking on the "Claiming God's Vision"
link. As we move toward the goals of our common 2020 Vision, I will
continue to highlight these two valuable resources and the wealth
of benefits they offer to our faith communities-Faithful Planning
and Claiming God's Vision.
R. Wayne
Calhoun Sr. is Minister of Evangelism in Disciples Home Missions
and attends Light of the World Christian Church, Indianapolis.
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