Congregational Life Centre
Our mission is to assist congregations to be more
effective in their ministry
This Year in Prospective
This
has been a year of transition for us. We introduced our book, Leadership
for Today, in the fall. We know from research how important leadership is
for the modern church. It comes to the very top when we ask why a church
is thriving or failing. As a result, we have decided that leadership is
going to be our main focus for the future. We want to make a difference
for the church, not just maintain the status quo.
The Revelations Book & Gift Coop closed in February, and that has freed a considerable amount of time to devote to the Congregational Life Centre and its mission. There have been a number of excellent books published in the area of leadership, and that has led to our expanding our knowledge in this area. Everything we read underlines the importance of our decision to re-focus our ministry on Leadership.
We attended Epiphany Explorations in Victoria last January and have made the commitment to do that annually because it provides us with an opportunity to be in touch with other people and other aspects of ministry. Our time there led to three sessions of a Leadership Circle which we facilitated based on that experience. It is very helpful to have the privilege of stepping outside of what we are doing and see where the next path might lead.
Our spring-time leadership event for Congregational boards was a success. We travelled across the province and worked with nine United and Anglican Boards or Vestries who were exploring what it means to lead a congregation today.
Creating Christian Circles, held this August in Athabasca, was attended by six participants. Formerly Small Group Ministry, we changed the name and revamped the program to put more emphasis on community and leadership than we have done in the past. We had a new classroom tent and it worked well, except for one afternoon of cold rain which brought us inside.
We have decided to talk about ourselves as a Leadership Opportunity Centre. There is no question that leadership is the critical factor in whether or not we are doing effective ministry and we have decided that it will be our focus for the coming future. Too many congregations are putting their emphasis on numbers and growing when we believe they need to focus on providing effective ministry. The result of effective ministry will be growth, but the mission has to be an authentic desire to share God's love with others.
We look forward to a year of working with congregational leaders and appreciate your continued support.
Joyce Madsen
"Leadership Ventures" Congregational Life Newsletter. September 2010. Volume 17 No. 1.