Preaching Exilic Hope in the Climate Crisis
Preaching Exilic Hope in the Climate Crisis
November 1, 2023 : 10:00 - 11:30 am by Zoom
One of the reasons pastors avoid preaching about the climate crisis is that breadth and depth of the questions it surfaces. These questions are less about policy and more about our deepest theological convictions. They are questions of human purpose, Christian hope, and the character of God. The biblical text is not afraid of such questions. This workshop will lift up the scriptural witness of God’s exiled people as a model for preaching exilic hope in the face of ecological loss.
Facilitator: The Rev. Dr. Jerusha Matsen Neal
Jerusha Matsen Neal, Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School, is an ordained ABC(USA) pastor who has served as a Global Ministries mission partner in the Fiji Islands through the United Methodist Church. She has spent her ministry preaching in cross-cultural spaces and bridging denominational communities.
Her book, The Overshadowed Preacher: Mary, the Spirit, and the Labor of Proclamation (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2020) challenges preachers to leave behind false shadows of approval to embrace the overshadowing Spirit of God. The book she is currently writing, Holy Ground: Preaching, Climate Change, and the Apocalypse of Place (Baylor University Press) engages the climate crisis through the sermons of South Pacific communities displaced by rising tides. A former actress and playwright, she has also authored a collection of dramatic monologues, Blessed: Monologues for Mary (Cascade, 2012).
This workshop is part of a monthly workshop series on preaching, the first Wednesday of every month from 10:00 to 11:30 am. For an overview of the series, Click Here
Exploring The Themes Of Advent 2023
Exploring The
Themes Of Advent 2023
September 6, 2023
Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick
Executive, the Synod of the Covenant
Church seasons come around with disturbing regularity! It is never too early to consider preaching themes for Advent 2023, when the lectionary takes us into Mark, John, and Luke to prepare us for the coming of Christ. Participants will have the chance to reconsider the meaning of Advent and to share ideas for non-lectionary series. This workshop will include lecture, small group discussions, and a time for question and answer.
Facilitator: The Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick, Executive, Synod of the Covenant
Chip earned his Ph.D. in homiletics (preaching) at Princeton Theological Seminary, helping to teach courses in Introduction to Preaching and Worship in the Reformed Tradition. He has served as the regular preacher at churches in Bloomington, IL, and Lake Forest, IL. He is the former Director of Theology, Formation, and Evangelism for the Presbyterian Church (USA), and has served the Synod since April 2020.
This workshop is part of a monthly workshop series on preaching, the first Wednesday of every month from 10:00 to 11:30 am. For an overview of the series, Click Here
Becoming an Emotionally Intelligent Leader
Becoming an Emotionally Intelligent Leader
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the key to successful leadership in this day and age. EI is core to being an adaptive leader, is foundational to being resilient, and is required to effectively manage conflict. In this Zoom workshop, each participant will take the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0, and then attend a full-day workshop led by two LeaderWise staff members. In the workshop, participants will explore their own strengths and opportunities for growth from the lens of emotional intelligence, and will create an action plan for practicing new ways of being.
Costs: The costs for this workshop are fully covered by participating presbyteries and the Synod, but each Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 has a cost per person of $115. Eastminster Presbytery is fully subsidizing this expense; Detroit, Lake Michigan, and Miami Valley Presbyteries might also be offering a subsidy. Members of these presbyteries should contact their presbytery leaders to learn more. The other presbyteries throughout the Synod are not offering subsidies for the EQI 2.0.
Keep these dates in mind:
Registration Closed at Noon on 6/11 (so please advertise ASAP)
By 6/14 LeaderWise will send the link for participants to complete the Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQI)
6/17 all EQI’s must be submitted by participants
6/18 Participants will receive EQI results and zoom link
6/24 Workshop 9:00 to 3:00 ET, by Zoom
Racial Justice Training (5/21)
Racial Justice Training
In this day and age, we can’t afford to ignore the impact racism has had on our country and in our churches. Each of us needs to do our own work. In this program, each participant will take the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), which is the premier assessment of cross-cultural acumen, have a 1:1 debrief with a LeaderWise psychologist, and then participate in a ½ day workshop for the group led by 2.
LeaderWise staff members who are certified to administer and teach the IDI. During this Zoom workshop, participants will learn more deeply about cross-cultural competence; constructions in in diversity, equity, and inclusion; reflect on their own opportunities for increasing competence; and begin to create their own development plan for increasing their competence.
Costs: The costs for the workshop are fully covered by participating presbyteries and the Synod, but each Intercultural Development Inventory has a cost per person for the individualized debrief. The cost for a one-half hour debrief is $150; please check with your presbytery staff to see how they might be subsidizing that cost. An additional half hour debrief, for a total of 1 hour, costs an additional $70. The Synod will subsidize this additional cost for the first 60 people who sign up for this seminar.
Dates to Keep in Mind
May 21, 2021: Participants must have completed the IDI (link sent to participant on or before May 15, or as soon as possible if the participant signs up after 5/15/21)
May 26, 2021, 1:30 to 4:30 Eastern Time by Zoom
By June 30, 2021: All IDI Debriefs will be completed (to be scheduled soon after 5/26/21 workshop)
Healthy Conflict, Healthy Church (9/21)
Healthy Conflict, Healthy Church
Conflict abounds in church today. That’s not the problem, since no significant change happens without conflict. The problem arises in people’s inability to engage in healthy conflict. In this program, each participant will take the TKI (Thomas-Killman Conflict Mode Instrument) assessment, and then attend a ½ day workshop led by one LeaderWise staff person. In this Zoom workshop, we will explore the difference between healthy and dysfunctional conflict, learn about different conflict styles and when to use each, and explore one’s own strengths and opportunities for improving how they step into conflict.
Costs: The costs for this workshop are fully covered by participating presbyteries and the Synod, but each TKI assessment has a cost per person of $35. Please check with your presbytery staff to see how they might be subsidizing that cost.
Date: Wednesday Sept 29, 2021, 9:00 – 12:00 Eastern time by Zoom
Registration Deadline: Sept 8, 20021
Training for Committees on Ministry and Committees on Preparation for Ministry
Training for Committees on Ministry and Committees on Preparation for Ministry
This content of this workshop by Zoom will be developed in conjunction with participating presbyteries and LeaderWise staff, to be sure that specific needs and concerns are met among leaders serving on these two vital teams.
Costs: The costs for this workshop are fully covered by participating presbyteries and the Synod.
Date: October 13, 2021, 9:00 – 11:30 Eastern time by Zoom
Boundaries Training
Boundaries Training
This boundaries training focuses on strategies to foster mental health, emotional resiliency, and well-being. While the essentials will still be covered, the best prevention is to encourage church leaders to take steps to manage their stress in order to maintain balance and perspective when temptation arises.
The Synod of the Covenant is sponsoring 3 Zoom boundaries trainings over the course of 2021. Each training will be 5 hours online via zoom, 2.5 hours each day for 2 consecutive days. Sign up for whichever one fits best into your schedule. (5 CEUs will be granted upon completion of the program.)
There is no cost for this training; participating presbyteries and the Synod are fully providing this experience for you.
May 18 and 19, 2021
10:00 am -12:30 pm Eastern each day
Registration Deadline 5/5/21
*This Session Primarily For Pastors/Teaching Elders/Commissioned Ruling Elders
August 18 and 19, 2021
6:00 – 8:30 pm Eastern each day
Registration Deadline 8/5/21
This session primarily for volunteer church leaders (e.g., ruling elders, youth/children ministry volunteers, personnel committee members, deacons, etc.)
November 9 and 10, 2021
10:00 am – 12:30 pm Eastern each day
Registration Deadline 11/01/21
This Session Primarily For Pastors/Teaching Elders/Commissioned Ruling Elders
Race, Science, and the Church (2/22)
Race, Science and the Church
Offered by Science for the Church
February 16 and 23, 2022
12:00 to 1:30 pm ET both days
Targeting: Anyone Interested
Registration Deadline: February 16, 2022
Cost: Fully Covered by the Synod of the Covenant
Science, like the church, is facing a reckoning as it comes to grips with scientific racism past and present. The human sciences – biology and psychology – are shedding light on what race is and how it impacts us, body and mind. The range of fields connected to medicine are learning the complicated and often ugly relationship between race and health. These are just a few of the ways science can inform and improve the conversation our churches have about race.
Journey Groups (initiated 3/22)
Journey Groups
Offered by LeaderWise
Meet Monthly from March to November
Timing to be Set by Group
Targeting: Pastors/Commissioned Ruling Elders in any type of ministry
Registration Deadline: February 15
Cost: $100 total cost per participant; remaining costs covered by the Synod and Presbyteries
It is a disruptive and chaotic time to lead. Pastors need more support than ever. These facilitated journey groups (small group cohorts for support of 5-7 people) will gather monthly to take a time apart for reflection on their wellbeing. LeaderWise facilitators are trained in wellbeing and resilience and will interject learning and encouragement along the way. Particular focus is made to help the group bond, so that at the end of the program groups might choose to stay together even without the facilitator.
Adaptive Leadership and Practicum (initiated 8/4/22)
Adaptive Leadership Workshops and Practicum
Offered by LeaderWise
August 4, Sept 1, Oct 6, Nov 3
Time 9:00 to 3:00 Eastern each day
Targeting: Teaching Elders and Commissioned Ruling Elders
Register: HERE
Registration Deadline: July 23, 2022
Cost: Fully covered by the Synod and Presbyteries
“Adaptive leadership” is the kind of leadership that we need when it is not at all clear how to meet a challenge that faces us. You might know it as a buzzword that everyone is throwing around or it might be a brand new concept to you. Regardless, it IS the type of leading that we leaders of 21st century church need to practice, in order to affect deep and lasting culture change in our contexts and in our communities.
This workshop introduces church leaders to adaptive leadership and asks them to work a small adaptive challenge in their system. We will gather for 4 day-long workshops over 4 months, and participants will put the concepts into practice in between large group gatherings. This workshop is for teaching or ruling elders, deacons or any other congregational leaders. Participants will spend time in small group cohorts to meet during the workshop—it would be ideal if several members from a Session joined their pastor, or if a presbytery leadership team attended together. In the registration you can identify others with whom you would like to work in a small group, or you can join others randomly who are also working on challenging issues in their home context. Each small group will be encouraged to support each other outside of the workshop time too.