Developing New Congregational Leaders
We used to call it the nominations committee. Now, United Methodist churches have a committee on lay leadership. The responsibilities and make-up of the committee are described in The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2000. This group used to meet every fall to write names of people on a nomination report for charge conference. The new design gives this group responsibility for helping people identify their gifts and skills for service, and for assisting in the nurture and development of Christian spiritual leadership. See Guidelines for Leader Selection & Development: 2001-2004 (Cokesbury, 2000). Share your knowledge of FaithQuest with the committee on lay leadership. It will help them do their job! In several congregations, members of the committee are leading FaithQuest groups for development and spiritual nurture of new leaders.
Many churches start new FaithQuest groups in the fall as a part of the congregational system of leader development.
To ensure that you have the materials on time and available for distribution at your orientation session, order by calling 1-877-899-2780, ext. 7674.
Special Interpreter Issue for Leaders
The June 2002 Interpreter magazine is full of planning ideas for church leaders. There is an article on budgeting by Dan Dick, author of FaithQuest. Tim Moss, a FaithQuest leader and trainer, writes about vision. There are articles on receiving visitors who have come in response to the Igniting Ministries ad campaign; improving worship; and planning for singles and families. Due to cost, this special planning issue was mailed only to pastors and program leaders. However, a downloadable PDF version is available at www.interpretermagazine.org.
For a hard copy of the magazine, call 615-742-5449, ext. 3 ($1.50 each).
A Promise and a Challenge: Bless All the Families of the World!