2010 Conference Concurrent Workshops

Pre Conference Workshops

Redevelopment During The Interim  Ministry:  It Takes Three to Tango

By Rev. Patricia Hanen

“We want our church to redevelop, but we can’t afford to change.” How many times have those words—or euphemisms for them—been said to judicatory executives, interim ministers, and congregational leaders during an interim season? Judicatories know that congregations will have to change if they are going to redevelop successfully. With congregations that want to redevelop, intentional interims know that their primary work is as change agents. Congregational leaders know that the interim time holds out a priceless opportunity for experimenting with change. And yet, if we are realistic, why does so little change seem to happen?  In the pre-conference mini-seminar we’ll look at how judicatories can better assess congregational readiness for redevelopment, at how interim ministers can better help congregations try out some of the directions they might take once a new rector comes, and at how congregational leaders can better encourage experimentation while maintaining a stable community. As we consider those, we’ll be looking at real-life situations and tools that can be used by each of the three partners in redevelopment, and attendees will be encouraged to share their own experience and expertise.

Ripe For Harvest
By The Rev. Dr. Steven R. Rottgers
In the 21^st Century, the Church finds itself faced with a shift from maintenance to a Missional challenge of becoming more relevant to people’s needs and to maintain flexibility. It is pushed to keep up with the rapid rate of change that now exists in the modern world. This workshop describes a process called, “Ripe for the Harvest.” It enables mission discernment, creative flexibility and the ability to adjust quickly and efficiently to people’s needs and yet still maintain a core of spiritual integrity and servant leadership. Aspects of “Ripe for the Harvest” are readily applied in business today. The same formats and theory were used by Christ thousands of years before surfacing in today’s secular world.

3:00 - 4:00 pm    Concurrent Workshops

Leadership on Demand? Choosing Among Options in a Culture of Instant Gratification
By Dr. Kenneth McFayden
This workshop focuses upon common congregational expectations of leaders and the double binds that emerge as members want (but really do not want) transformational leadership. Participants will utilize material to assist them in helping congregations navigate processes of change, loss, grief, and attaching anew.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears:  Which Development Model Is Just Right?

By Rev. Patricia Hanen

Arlen Rothauge’s Sizing Up A Congregation for New Member Ministry has since 1983 provided a typology for considering differences among family, pastoral, program, and corporate churches. The past seventeen years, though, have seen a number of church growth-and-development models that don’t discriminate so much by size.  We’ll take a look at some of these, including Diana Butler Bass’s “retraditioning,” Brian McLaren’s “reinventing,” Doug Pagitt’s “re-imagining,” Christian Schwarz’s “all by itself” growth, and Martha Grace Reese’s “unbinding” strategies. These models can be seen (and used!) as tools during the interim time to help congregations learn more about themselves, focus their development strategy, try new things, and deepen their spiritual awareness.

Church and School Relationships -    Financial and Otherwise
By Rev. Richard Mathisen
Pastor Mathisen will discuss the issues that arise between a church and a church-owned school, preschool or daycare during the interim period. He will especially focus on the financial issues, such as determining the proper amount of reimbursement to the church and maintaining the proper reserves. He will also cover wider topics of governance, coordination and staff issues. 

“Woulda’, Coulda’, Shoulda’” - Shared Reflections on First interim Experience
By Rev. John Keydel
The first Interim Experience is / can be / should be a very rich learning opportunity. This Conversation will provide an opportunity for those of us who are doing or who have just concluded our first Interim to share notes. What worked? What didn’t? What did you do that you wish you hadn’t? What didn’t you do that you wish you had? Most importantly, what will you do differently next time? Why?

Not Being a Lone Ranger - The Transitional Practitioner's Family Issues
By Rev. Harris and Mrs. Jan Schultz
Interim practitioners face significant challenges as persons with familial relationships to preserve and nurture. The challenges include managing long distance relationships when serving congregations or synagogues at some distance from the hearth. Or they may move family, with household possessions "lock, stock, and barrel" from place to place. This workshop will focus on issues related to sustaining the family bond, attending especially to moving/not moving, spouse role in the "in between time" and ways practitioners have addressed these issues. It is planned for both practitioners and spouses.

SUNDAY, June 6, 2010

11:15 - 12:15 pm Concurrent Workshops

Clergy Self Care
By Rev. Dr. Roy Oswald
Health and wholeness are key ingredients to being a faithful messenger of the gospel.  Our vitality is our greatest contribution to our ministry. Good news is always received best when it comes through a healthy, balanced, joyful, grateful person. For this reason, we need to constantly be vigilant about safeguarding our vitality.

To do this we need to address the stress and burnout that accompanies the role of religious authority. There is no messenger of faith that can avoid it. Moses is a classic case of burnout. Even Jesus got singed by its effects. All of us could get better at keeping ourselves healthy: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. At this workshop we will test your levels of stress, strain, and burnout, and go onto exploring some potent self care strategies. 

Church Consultant and Facilitator Training
By Rev. Christopher Gambill
Explore how you can utilize your existing knowledge and experience in ministry to help congregations meet the increasingly complex challenges of mission, ministry and congregational life. The need for skilled church consultant facilitators who can provide objective, tailored, context-specific help to congregations is growing. This workshop will describe the training now available jointly through the Interim Ministry Network and the Center for Congregational Health.

Fundamentals of Transitional Ministry 2.0
By Dr. William Peterson

The student manual and teacher’s guide for the IMN course – Fundamentals of Transitional Ministry –  have been revised and updated. The new books and audio-visuals will be used in all classes after the conference. For those who have recently completed FTM, this workshop will present new state-of-the-art materials and have a Q&A session on the major theme of the course – the responsibilities of the interim minister. For those thinking about enrolling in IMN training, this mini-seminar offers a sample program. For those who completed interim training more than three years ago, this workshop offers new and important information that will sharpen your competitive edge.

1:15 - 2:45 pm Concurrent Workshops

Emotional Intelligence and Human Relations Training
By Rev. Dr. Roy Oswald

Highlights from Dr. Oswald’s week-long course on emotional intelligence will be presented. The program features highly experiential learning in small groups. Participants are given feedback on the impact they have on others and will learn both   inter-personal and intra-group communications skills. The course focuses on the five areas of emotional intelligence as keys to improving leadership effectiveness.

Preaching in the Transition
By Dr. David Greenhaw

Preaching and leading worship in a period of transition is significantly different from preaching and leading worship in a settled period in a congregation’s life. In both cases, too much emphasis can be placed on the power of the sermon itself as opposed to the overall tenor of preaching. During the time a preacher is with a congregation there are things that are being preached that exceed the confines of a particular sermon. This workshop will reflect on strategies for preaching not just individual sermons, and not just series of sermons, but the overall tenor of an interim with a congregation.

“I always want to remind my students of the ‘dangers of preaching.’ Because preaching can change people’s lives, it is important not to misuse this authority. Everyone who has been called to the ministry and given the power to preach must carefully consider what they are doing.” Dr. David Greenhaw

Creativity and the Interim Tasks
By Rev. Deb Lind-Schmitz

Release your own creative spirit and the congregation's spiritual gifts as you work through the five developmental tasks. Think outside the box, receive and share ideas that make the task fun. Consider ways to use music, art, and drama to stabilize, remember, discover and imagine the future.

How to Resolve Conflict – Getting Others To Work With You, Not Against You
By Rev. Tim Wolbrecht

In this workshop participants will learn and practice a simple yet powerful communication tool to manage the differences in ministry that impair teamwork, quality of ministry, decision-making, and cooperation throughout the congregation. The focus will be on one to one conflict resolution – moving from “me-against-you” to “us-against-the-problem.”