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A children’s ministry event and a gathering to look at the future of worship in The United Methodist Church are among the events Discipleship Ministries will sponsor in the coming months. 

The large face-to-face gatherings and an ongoing series of webinars are among the ways the agency supports local churches seeking to be or continue as vital congregations making disciples of Jesus Christ. The agency offers other training in conjunction with annual conferences and other groups. A wealth of information and resources is also on the regularly updated website, www.umcdiscipleship.org.

Rock On – Children’s Ministry Forum

Children’s Ministry Forum is a conference for children’s ministry leaders in large United Methodist congregations (over 300 in worship). “Rock On” will be the theme for the Nov. 17-19 event in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Sponsored by Discipleship Ministries, the Large Church Initiative and the United Methodist Publishing House, Children’s Ministry Forum features worship, continuing education workshops and seminars, and networking. 

The Rev. Telley L. Gadson will present the opening keynote address. Recognized as a ministry mentor, church leadership coach and national leader, some describe her as the church’s “national evangelist.” She is president of the National Black Clergy Women of The United Methodist Church and an ordained elder in the South Carolina Conference.

Other featured speakers will be the Rev. Claire McKeever-Burgett, an Alliance of Baptist pastor and dance teacher on the staff of The Upper Room; the Rev. Leanne Hadley, author, speaker, consultant and coach in children’s ministries; and the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III, senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri.

Pre-conference seminars and workshop leaders are from Discipleship Ministries, the United Methodist Publishing House and a number of large membership congregations. Topics areas are spiritual formation, teaching, leadership/administration, technology, volunteers and communication.

Learn more at www.umcdiscipleship.org/leadership-resources/childrens-ministry-forum-2015

FUSION: The Future of Worship

United Methodist pastors, musicians and worship leaders will meet Feb. 4-6 in Raleigh, North Carolina, to explore how to use a wide variety of worship styles and resources to revitalize their worship services now and for the future.

“Fusion: The Future of Worship in The UMC” will bring together practitioners from vital congregations and recognized expert professors to delve into current worlds of worship resources and leadership in the areas of music, worship planning and design, preaching and sacraments.

“‘Fusion’ is designed to help students, pastors and worship leaders revitalize, update and modernize their worship services without losing sight of what identifies us as United Methodists,” said the Rev. Dawn Chesser, director of preaching ministries at Discipleship Ministries.

“Participants will learn basic to advanced techniques for developing new worship services, or breathing life into already established ones. They will make connections with other worship leaders from across the denomination and engage in exciting conversation about the future of worship in The United Methodist Church,” Chesser said.

Hosted by Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, “Fusion” will be three days of worship, inspiration, practical instruction and networking designed for clergy and lay people from both large and small churches, in addition to seminarians and professors. The registration fee is $149 per person. There is a discounted rate of $129 for those registering by Dec. 1. Student registration for seminary and course of study students is $89. 

“This is for churches that are interested in growing, in deepening, in moving forward, drawing on all of the resources that are available for worship now, and that includes a lot of things that are contemporary,” said the Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards, director of worship resources at Discipleship Ministries.

Participants at the gathering will look at where worship should go from here – about how to draw on all the best music, media and congregational resources, along with the gifts that people bring, Burton-Edwards said.

“How do we get out of the traditional/contemporary rut, because I think for a lot of us, worship has become running in one of those two paths?” he asked. “And how do we, instead, engage in vital and lively worship, drawing on as many of the gifts that are available as we possibly can?

“What we already see happening in worship is great vitality in both traditional and contemporary in many places, but greater vitality in those who are already adapting to more of this fusion understanding,” he said.

Each workshop and plenary will be co-led by scholars and practitioners. Plenary leaders include:

• The Rev. Rachel Billups, executive pastor of discipleship, Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, Tipp City, Ohio.
• The Rev. DeAndre Johnson, pastor of music and worship, Westbury United Methodist Church, Houston. 
• Marcia McFee, worship consultant at the Worship Design Studio, Truckee, California.
• Kim Miller, worship and campus designer, Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church.
• The Rev. Matt Miofsky, lead pastor, The Gathering United Methodist Church, St. Louis.
• The Rev. Lester Ruth, research professor of Christian worship, Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina.
• The Rev. Don Saliers, William R. Cannon Professor of Theology and Worship, emeritus, Emory University, Atlanta.
• The Rev. Karyn Wiseman, associate professor of homiletics and director of United Methodist Studies at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

In addition, 10 other professors and practitioners will join the speakers to lead workshops throughout the event.

Find more information at www.fusionworship2016.org.

Regular webinars

Discipleship Ministries’ staff regularly leads and hosts webinars that support local church leaders in their ministries. Most of the webinars are offered at no cost to participants as they are provided through support of the World Service Fund. Generally, they are archived for later listening or reference.

Among those offered regularly are “Tuesday Tea with Melanie” hosted by Melanie Gordon, director of children’s ministries; a series of programs on stewardship hosted by the Rev. Ken Sloane, director of stewardship; and a four-part series on “Developing Your Ministry Plan” featuring the Rev. Craig Kennet Miller, director of pastoral leadership. 

Find the webinar schedule at www.umcdiscipleship.org/webinars.

Adapted from information on the Discipleship Ministries website, www.umcdiscipleship.org.