(from the website)
“Glocalnet is a network of churches worldwide, clustered together regionally or in cities. These clusters pool their resources to produce T-Life disciples, multiply churches, transform local communities and impact the world.”
Emergent Village is one of the many websites involved in the Emerging Church Conversation.
(from their website)
“Emergent Village is a growing, generative friendship among missional Christians seeking to love our world in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
One of the significant issues in the failure of new church development centers on the selection of the Organizing Pastor. This is a critical decision that those tasked with hiring the Organizing Pastor often don’t know what skills and talents this specialized role should have and often end up calling a person who is not a capable church planter. This is a common misstep but a critical one.
So, a few years ago the PCUSA, along with some of our ecumenical partners, we began working with the Gallup organization to develop a simple but effective online tool to help determine if a person being considered for new church development work has the necessary gifts and skills to be an effective church planter.
The tool was launched last year and by our measure seems to be a very effective tool. The Office of Church Growth wants to make sure that you have access to this very useful tool. If you are on a Presbytery or church team that will be looking for an Organizing Pastor or are a Pastor who thinks he/she might be a church planter, this tool is a great way to begin your search.
The cost is $50 per use and is a very cost effective way to evaluate those Pastors you might want to interview.
We suggest that you use this tool BEFORE setting up any interview or face to face conversation and that you use this toll will all the applicants you are considering interviewing in order to have the capacity to evaluate them based on a common criteria.
For those who will be using this tool, we will be scheduling some training on how to interpret the results.
To start using this, please email Sherry Britton or you can contact her if you have any questions.
Presbymergent is the online community for those who live in both the Presbyterian (PCUSA) and Emergent/emerging church worlds and want to try and find a balance between the two.
We are pastors, lay people, seminarians, theologians, youth directors and people who generally care about both the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Emergent and the emergent conversation.
Feel free to join and post articles, questions and thoughts to the community. Grab the RSS feed and stay updated with information about presbymergent news. Post, discuss, share and support those who are working in and thinking about ministry in the margins.
One of the challenges to us is to shift from a business model of doing ministry to having a more discernment oriented approach to planning and designing ministries. Follow this link to an article offered by the Alban Institute on “Planning as Holy Conversation”.
May we learn to discern.
Jim Collins, author of the book, Good to Great, did an interivew with the Leadership Journal. It’s a very interesting read.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2006/002/7.48.html
The Good to Great Pastor
An interview with Jim Collins.
Jim Collins’s book Good to Great has been a favorite among church leaders since it appeared in 2001. Six years of research resulted in a well-crafted and captivating account of what enables some companies to go from good to great and what prevents others from doing so. The popularity of the book, coupled with his ability to craft clear explanations for complex issues, has helped Collins become the dean of corporate advisers. (more…)
Check out this series of podcasts/netcasts from Allelon!
Who is Allelon?
“Allelon is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization located in Eagle Idaho. We are a multi-generational network of missional church leaders, schools and parachurch organizations which envisions, inspires, engages, resources, trains and educates leaders for the church and its mission in our culture. Said simply, together we are a movement of missional leaders.” (from their website).
Star Thrower Distribution offers the best training and development video and multimedia tools available. Star Thrower creates programs that develop people’s ability to think rather than react. Our programs help institute real change; individual change that can make a fundamental difference in the way an organization behaves.
When you view one of our films, you will find a thought provoking tool with clear training points and superior production quality. Additionally, most Star Thrower products come with a complete set of support materials to make training even easier.
Special pricing is available for the faith community. We offer complimentary previews of all our programs to allow you to view a program in its entirety. Please use this web link to view program suggestions, and to contact Eilene, 800-561-0291 or eilene@starthrower.com for pricing details. www.starthrower.com/faithbased.htm
Rocky Mountains
Lincoln Trails
Covenant
Sun
Trinity
Baltimore
Chicago
John Calvin
Northern Kansas
Southeastern Illinois
Ohio Valley
Central Washington
Heartland
Scioto Valley
Sierra Mission Partnership
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One of our own NCD Pastors, Jim Walker of Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh, has written a book about their ministry at Hot Metal Bridge.
“Jesus said he came to heal the sick, not the well. Even so, some churches have a feeling about them that is vaguely antiseptic, where there seems to be an unspoken pressure to censor any unpleasantness. Jim Walker wanted to build a church that was honest and that lived out its mission down in the muck of life where Jesus calls us to get our hands dirty. In the rough and often unpleasant neighborhoods of the South Side of Pittsburgh, Jim began finding people who wanted to live in a new way – passionate, committed, and totally devoted to God. Be forewarned: Some of the stories and descriptions in DIRTY WORD might offend you, or run afoul of your expectations of the clergy. But if you are equally offended by watered-down theology and pallid discipleship, DIRTY WORD offers a bracing challenge and a fresh evocation of hope. DIRTY WORD is a raw, uncensored look at an unapologetic way of being the church.”
You can get Jim’s book on Amazon or Cokesbury.
Congrats Jim!
At our recent NCD conference we took some time to chronicle some of the NCD stories that are happening around the PC(USA). This video is about the journey of a church, Open Door, in Pittsburgh Presbytery.
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