Emory professor has a unique approach to connecting people from different backgrounds
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The Reverend Dr. Greg Ellison appears on Coffee with the Clerk
Rick Jones | Office of the General Assembly - November 19, 2019
Louisville
Churches, companies, nonprofit organizations, and seminary students are having hard conversations about how to connect in an ever-changing world. The Reverend Dr. Gregory C. Ellison, II, author of the book "Fearless Dialogues," shared his strategy for connecting different classes of people during this week’s broadcast of “Coffee with the Clerk,” with the Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Ellison is a familiar face to PC(USA) leaders across the denomination. Last year, he led a daylong seminar at the Mid Council Leaders Gathering in Chicago
.
Ellison is founder of Fearless Dialogues, a grassroots organization that creates opportunities for unlikely partners to engage in hard conversations, see the gifts in others, and work for positive transformation in self and others.
Ellison says the organization grew out of a conversation he had on a local NPR radio station about the struggle for marginalized people to be heard.
“As a young black professor who wrote about young black men, I was immediately coined as an expert, invited to do interviews on NPR and other stations. I recognized during those conversations that there was not a very healthy model for conversation in some of those spaces,” he said. “I was told I had 20 seconds to argue my point and then someone would rebut what I say. I would talk about 15 seconds and someone would cut me off. I thought to myself, I don’t even talk to those I don’t like this way; there has to be a different way for people to engage.”
Ellison is associate professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. While on the air that day, he invited people to come to campus to discuss what was happening to young people in this country.
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Flint Documentary and Grassroots Screening Campaign
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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance's Story Ministry
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On January 31st our newest educational film resource,
Flint: The Poisoning of an American City
, will launch on iTunes, Amazon and across major On Demand cable platforms Comcast, Cox and Crawford, reaching more than 60 million homes. We are planning a grassroots screening campaign to share the news that this resource is available and can be used as a catalyst to start important conversations around clean water at the local, state and federal levels. We are reaching out individually to leaders like you in the hopes that you would join us in this campaign.
During January we are asking folks to convene a small group of your community leaders working on or interested in helping with environmental justice. After the small pre-screening and using
Flint’s Grassroots Screening Kit
, your team would begin to share their impressions of the film on social media using the hashtag #FlintIsEverywhere and tagging us at @flintpoisoning on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. We plan to share a social media toolkit with sample posts and graphics with you in mid January. To have a more concentrated buzz around this resource, we are asking folks to post on social media the week of January 26th-31st--and if you aren’t able to pull together a group for a pre-screening, posting on social media is still a great way to support this campaign!
After this launch, our hope is that your pre-screenings will lead to larger community-wide screenings that can bring together additional partner organizations, congregations and city officials to mobilize and find ways to engage the issues around clean water.
Will you join us? We look forward to continuing this conversation and please don’t hesitate to be in touch with us as further questions arise!
“Films like the one you are going to see tonight are so important because they won’t let people forget what is still happening in Flint. Films like this one keep Flint’s story alive and underscore that what happened in Flint isn’t an isolated tragedy. It’s happening all over our country to people who don’t have the influence and the political power to fight back. But we will fight back, and we will not stop until every single American’s right to clean drinking water is safe and secure.” -
- Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) on Flint: The Poisoning of an American City
The Flint Campaign Team
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Hillcrest Family Services of Dubuque Seeks President and CEO
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President and CEO sought for Hillcrest Family Services of Dubuque, Iowa,
a not-for-profit Christian faith based human services organization founded in 1896, serving 25,000+ people annually, with more than 30 programs and multiple locations. The position is responsible for overall leadership, finances, marketing, strategic planning, fundraising and administration. Key goals include advancing the organization toward its mission with financial viability and working closely with the Board of Trustees and management staff to implement long-term vision, successful client outcomes, and financial stability. Masters Degree required along with seven years executive experience. Dubuque is Iowa’s 10
th
largest city and is a center for area culture and education, including five highly regarded institutions of higher learning. Send inquiries and resumes to Tim Stair, MHS Consulting, 109 E. Clinton St., Suite 5 St., Goshen, IN, 46528 or electronically to
stair.tim@gmail.com.
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Ministry Relations Officer Opportunity with Presbyterian Foundation
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The Presbyterian Foundation is seeking qualified candidates for our Ministry Relations Officer position in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. As such, we solicit your assistance in our search for candidates.
Additional information, including a detailed job posting, is available upon request from
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New online Worship and Sacraments Class
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Calling worship committee members, church musicians, commissioned pastors, and anyone interested in learning more about what it means to be Presbyterian: Join
The Academy
for the Worship and Sacraments Class beginning the week of January 6, 2020. This online class offers the opportunity to learn why we do what we do, how theology informs practice and how pastors work “behind the scenes” with the sacraments and special worship services.
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Educator Care--A message from the APCE Advocacy Ministry Team
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Educator Care—A message from the APCE Advocacy Ministry Team
Presbyteries and synods are faced with the challenge of providing support, care, encouragement, and ways of accountability for those who serve in the area of Christian education. Those who serve in education as Certified Church Educators have finished their masters level work with a desire to serve the church to the best of their abilities. But committees on ministry struggle with how best to provide for the nonordained professionals under their care.
The Advocacy Ministry Team of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) has worked to write a policy, approved by the APCE Coordinating Council, to help guide committees on ministry in their process of setting policies for church educators (i.e. directors of Christian education, directors of children’s ministry, directors of faith formation, directors of family ministry, etc.).
We invite you to share these guidelines for possible policies for your presbytery and synod. Please pass along to your presbytery executive, chair of committee on ministry, synod leadership, and churches who are seeking guidance in establishing ways of working to equitably care for educators who give so much time, energy, and imagination to the churches and presbyteries.
If you have any questions concerning the policy or certified church educators, please feel free to contact
Renda Brinson
, moderator of the Advocacy Ministry Team, Association of Presbyterian Church Educators.
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Seeking Writers for 2020 Older Adults Ministries Planning Guide
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The theme is
Our Calling with the Generations: Intergenerational Engagement.
Does your congregation/organization offer programs/events to engage the generations as you minister for, to, and with older adults? We would love to share with others ideas in providing older adult ministries throughout the generations. Please consider writing an article that can be used in the 2020 OAM Planning Guide. Articles can be about a program you offer within your congregation, partnerships you have formed with other organizations, or other activities/events you provide for older adults within your community. Articles should be about the “how to” of various ministries with older adults through intergenerational engagement.
Articles should be 500-2,000 words in length and need to be submitted by the
December 15, 2019 deadline
to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 OAM Planning Guide. Submission does not guarantee inclusion in the 2020 OAM Planning Guide and articles may be maintained to use at a later date. POAMN reserves editorial rights of all articles submitted. Please submit your article and include your short bio, to Ginny Nyhuis at
gnyhuis@frontier.com.
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Jeremy's Story
Jeremy, who has almost 40 years in congregational ministry, recently completed our online loneliness survey, which we’re inviting clergy to complete as part of our research into loneliness in ministry. After submitting it, he reached out almost immediately to me. Although the survey touched on aspects of loneliness in clergy, he wanted me to know that the experience is much more nuanced than implied by the questions, and that it has assumed different shapes across the course of a career.
Read the rest of Jeremy's story.
In our work with clergy, whether in workshops or one-on-one consultations, we often hear stories of loneliness and isolation. In fact, one significant clergy survey found that
1
out of 3 clergy acknowledge feeling lonely and isolated (Clergy Wellbeing Survey, UMC, 2017)
1
. Jeremy’s story helps provide context and depth to these stories and statistics.
The Health Toll of Loneliness
Social scientists are only now beginning to understand the full cost of loneliness. In the general population, for instance, loneliness is a stronger predictor of premature death than air pollution, obesity, or alcohol abuse. Depending on the study, people who are lonely have about a 1.5 to 3 times greater chance of dying in the next five years than those who are less lonely. We further know that loneliness correlates with significant increases in sleep disturbances, headaches, backaches, blood pressure, poor appetite, and depression. Because loneliness heightens the cortisol levels, a stress hormone, it also weakens our immune system, which makes us more susceptible to illnesses. (Cacioppo and Caciopo, 2012
2
; Cacioppo, Hawkley, and Berston, 2003
3
;
Masi, Chen, Hawkley, and Cacioppo, 2011
4
).
LeaderWise Research
At LeaderWise, we hear anecdotally about loneliness every day in our meetings with clergy, and we want to learn more about the prevalence and impact of loneliness in a systematic way. By having accurate information, we can document the experience of loneliness among clergy to advocate for resources and support, as well as to focus our LeaderWise services to better serve clergy and their loved ones.
Can you help?
We’d appreciate if you’d take 5 to 10 minutes to complete the
UCLA Loneliness Survey
. Your responses will be kept confidential. And, if you’d like to share your story of loneliness as a spiritual leader, I’d love to hear from you.
Contact me
, and let’s talk.
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Congregations can get up to $50K to help their pastors find renewal
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from the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program | Special to Presbyterian News Service
According to a news release from the program, congregations may apply for grants of up to $50,000 to underwrite a renewal program for their pastor and for the pastor’s family. Up to $15,000 of the funds are available to the congregation to help cover costs for ministerial supply while the pastor is away.
Through its religion grantmaking, Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation, seeks to deepen and enrich the lives of American Christians. It does this largely through initiatives to enhance and sustain the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes.
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By making a
gift, you will contribute to the many faces of our worldwide mission, including supporting and developing church leaders, creating resources for worship and discipleship and the advocacy efforts that work alongside ministries responding to times of disaster and famine. Join the global giving movement and help the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) live out our call to be a
Matthew 25 church by addressing systemic poverty, structural racism, and congregational vitality.
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Bring your hands and feet to Baltimore
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The Center offers opportunities to serve at the 224th General Assembly (2020)
Rick Jones | Office of the General Assembly - November 12, 2019
Visitors attending the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) next summer in Baltimore will have the opportunity to put their hands and feet to work during the assembly. The Center, a mission outreach of the Presbytery of Baltimore, will be offering hands-on service opportunities for youth groups and others. Registration is now open for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 22, 24–26.
“Our local partners are looking forward to sharing their stories with General Assembly Hands and Feet volunteers,” said Kate Foster Connors, The Center’s executive director. “They do the hard work of building relationships all year, and they’re excited so many Presbyterians are coming to support their congregations as they continue to grow their missional engagement.”
The Office of the General Assembly selected The Center as the focus of its
Hands and Feet initiative
, launched by the Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA). The initiative provides grassroots support for communities to facilitate change.
Over the past year and a half, visiting group volunteers have come to The Center to help develop relationships across lines of race, class, theology, and culture. They take those experiences back to their own communities to continue the work.
Foster Connors says volunteers at next year’s General Assembly will be placed with one of The Center’s partners to support neighborhood ministry.
Groups as well as individuals are welcome to register.
More
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The November issue of
The Sower is available.
Presbyterian Women in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies
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Photos for Presbyterian Calendar Wanted
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The
Presbyterian Planning Calendar
, a beloved publication of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is seeking photo submissions from congregations, mid councils, camps, conference centers and education centers for use in its 2020-2021 edition.
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