Hello ECO Community! Hope you enjoy this month's newsletter! Make sure not to miss the end! Click on the blue link at the very bottom of this email that says "View entire message"!
|
|
What Can You Do This Summer to be Ready for Fall?
By Dana Allin, ECO Synod Executive
|
|
One of the questions I have been asking participants in our pastor learning communities is, “What can you do personally this summer to be ready for the fall?” I ask this question because on the one hand, I pray that in the fall will begin to settle into the new normal. On the other hand, many are coming out of this long season with much less energy and excitement for ministry than we had prior to the pandemic. I believe that summer vacation will be important for all of us. However, vacation alone isn’t going to rejuvenate us for ministry.
Many have participated in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality groups that we have offered and found them very helpful. Some have also brought EHS into their congregations, which is exciting! If you have not participated in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality yet, I would encourage you to look into reading the book and doing the workbook on your own or with a group this summer as a way to replenish.
Another book I would commend to you is The Burnout Fix by Jacinta Jimenez. This book does a great job of helping to unpack the definition of burnout. Jimenez says that yes, exhaustion contributes to burnout, but true burnout also includes increased cynicism and decreased efficacy.
Increased cynicism is a cycle where we wonder if what we do is really making a difference. We unintentionally look for evidence to prove we aren’t making a difference, which of course then leads to greater cynicism. I think cynicism is natural in this season of COVID. I hear more and more pastors share about how COVID has revealed the lack of discipleship among members of their congregations. This discouraging news naturally makes us question if what we are doing has or is really making a difference. Add onto decreased discipleship some of the gloom and doom projections that are made about the future of Christianity and it is natural to become cynical...
|
|
We need your help to help validate our survey! It will help us better serve you in the future by providing resources necessary to encourage you in your discipleship and invigorate your church in its flourishing journey. Thank you! Find out more and take the survey by clicking the button below.
|
|
Mark your calendars! Registration will open August 1. |
|
NEW COHORTS, WEBINARS, AND RESOURCES! |
|
 |
Missional Communities and
Micro-expressions
|
As we look ahead in ECO’s vision of 1000 planted, revitalized, and flourishing ECO churches and microexpressions, we want to pay particular attention to that term “microexpressions.” To that end, we’ve offered educational and equipping cohorts led by Alex Absalom over the course of the last 3 years and we are seeing the fruit of those efforts. |
John Terech is gathering current leaders of missional communities and microexpressions in monthly Zoom calls. Are you currently leading a missional community? Want to be a part of these calls? E-mail John (john@eco-pres.org) for more information. The goal is to share best practices, discuss important topics related to leading in this way and to foster community across the country as we build and multiply these important ministries. While we all prayerfully navigate the world in a post COVID era, opportunities are present to “be the church” in new and inventive ways. Now is the time to experiment, explore and learn and maybe even take some risks to bring the Gospel to our neighborhoods.
|
|
|
|
|
Connecting Missions Leaders Conference
Save the Date!
October 14-16, 2021 in Nashville, TN
|
CML is an ideal gathering for local church mission leaders (staff, mission committee members, etc.) who are passionate about god’s mission in the world and who want to be more effective mission leaders and mission catalysts in their local church contexts. View more information by visiting their website below. |
|
|
|
|
Calling all ECO Fuller Alumni!
From Surviving to Thriving:
A Special Event for Fuller Seminary Alumni
|
Your Fuller Alumni Relations team invites you to a special gathering for leaders in ECO churches. Come hear from Dr. Tod Bolsinger, Executive Director of Fuller’s Church Leadership Institute and Associate Professor of Leadership Formation, as he speaks to us on the topic “From Surviving to Thriving,” with time for discussion.
|
When: Tuesday, May 11th
at 9:00 AM (PST) / 12:00 PM (EST)
|
|
|
|
|
Virtual Mission Trip with
Pars Theological Centre
May 22 (10 am CST)
Come learn about the ways God is at work among the Iranian people as we take a virtual trip with our friends from Pars Theological Centre. We’ll learn about their ministry, how they are training the underground church of Iran, hear from some of their students, and experience some Iranian culture as well! Registration details here: Virtualtrip.mdpc.org
|
|
|
|
AXIS
Check out what some of our ECO churches have to say about Axis!
|
From Joan Gerber, Program Director for Students, Central Campus, Menlo Church, Menlo Park, CA:
"We have found the resources available for our parents and leaders invaluable this past year as we’ve navigated not only a global pandemic but the need to tackle many sensitive topics with our youth."
|
From Barri Pratt, Director of Youth, Outreach and Ministries at Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian, McCalla, AL:
"Axis has been great for me as the Director of Youth, Outreach and Ministries at Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian. I have appreciated so much these great jumping off points to help support parents. Trying to figure out on my own what might be needed at the moment for them would be impossible but Axis has helped lead me in helping our parents.
A few short years ago, we as youth leaders could never have imagined how fast this world was about to change, how rapidly technology would make its way into every inch of our day to day lives, nor would we have been able to guess there would be a pandemic as we have seen in the last year. We all needed Axis! Thank you, ECO, for providing this amazing resource!
I would say that I use The Culture Translator emails the most. Sometimes I forward the entire email but often I clip certain parts and send so they can read it quickly and have a simple snip-it to use. These folks have so much info coming at them every second and I want these resources to be quick and accessible at any moment for them. I also use the Axis Blog and have enjoyed some of the Axis webinars and Zoom meetings. I have sent the link to a few Parent Guides, as well. One of our best uses of these resources was as we first were teaching our parents about Axis. Our minister used some of the parenting videos as he did a short class for parents. It was very helpful and eye-opening.
All of these resources have been a basis for helping our parents initiate difficult conversations with love, wisdom, and courage. In turn, this is a great faith builder for our families and our congregation. Thank you, again, for this beautiful gift!"
|
From Rev. Mitchell Moore, San Antonio Presbyterian Church, TX
"Our team has loved using Axis. We have loved using Axis. We used it heavily in our Discipleship Parenting class we just finished a few weeks ago. In addition it was very helpful last fall when a college student committed suicide as many of our families were asking for resources about suicide and we pointed them to a few of the resources from Axis.
|
If you’re not using Axis yet, make sure you check it out! To get your church set up with an account, learn how to navigate Axis, and more, email Maja Greig at maja@eco-pres.org.
Every ECO church receives one login to Axis for FREE! Click the button below to get your church set up with an account or to learn how to navigate Axis.
|
|
|
|
8 Year Prison Sentence for Female Pars Student |
|
Pars strives to be a robustly Christ-centred Iranian learning community committed to whole person theological training that transforms. Currently, 55% of the 493 students we train are women. This is a statistic that encourages us greatly, particularly because it closely reflects the leadership situation of the church in Iran. Indeed, most of the underground house church networks whose leaders we train report that women comprise about 60% of their leaders.
The self-sacrificial service of many female leaders of the Iranian church, their refusal to hate the oppressive Shi'ite islamists who persecute their people, and their insistence that, in spite of the horrors of persecution, life is glorious and magnificent, make them some of the most extraordinary women of our time.
One such woman is Sara, 42, a believer from a Muslim background who has been studying with Pars since late 2018 as a part-time student. It is a number of years that she has been leading a growing network of house churches.
Sara was arrested in June of 2019 for planting new house churches and thereby "acting against national security". At her trial a few weeks ago, Sara was issued an 8-year prison sentence. Sara's husband was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, fewer years than her because of a recent diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease. They have not yet been asked to begin their sentence, so they are currently at home, waiting.... Read Entire Article Here
|
|
Support the IPIB Churches in Brazil as they meet Urgent Needs
Our friends in the Independent Presbyterian Church in Brazil are seeking support as they meet urgent hunger needs throughout their country. Would you pause to pray and consider a gift to supply this need? Click the video below to watch.
|
|
Project Mana
Action against hunger
"Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you."
The enslaved people who, through the hands of the Lord, came out of the grip of Egypt, had a slow march towards the land of promise. It was 40 years of difficult learning about trust, solidarity and perseverance, contents that are not easy to apprehend. It took a long time for Yahweh to "tattoo" these and other words about the scars left by Pharaoh's whip. But, in due course, a free people gave way to slaves from the “Empire of the Sun”.
In our day, in our nation, men and women have been thrown into slavery. According to data from the World Bank, almost 15 million men and women will be below the poverty line in 2021, living without the minimum; without having the right to our daily bread. Of these, the majority is made up of women who headed families and remained unemployed. We can even see the large number of service providers who are no longer privileged to eat the sweat on their faces.
Observing this scenario, the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, through its Diaconia, heard the cry of a people: the cry of the excluded. At the same time that we see a bush burning without consuming itself and removing the sandals from our feet, we understand that God again calls men and women to take the destitute to a place of safety. IPIB has been doing this since the beginning of the year 2020. The IPIB Secretariat for Social Action and Diakonia has already helped the homeless by the rains in the Southeast and Northeast regions (Amor em Ação Campaign), as well as supporting churches in the North of the country at its peak the public health crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, with your help, we will take an action that will simultaneously bless the five regions of our nation, in an attempt to combat the hunger that is plaguing the popular classes of Brazilian society.
The goal is to raise fifty thousand dollars, the amount of money will be transformed into basic baskets of food into ready meals for the homeless population
Let's eat at the “Lamb's Table” and celebrate the Lord together!
Rev. Ana Isaura Lima de Souza
National Secretary of Diakonia of IPIB
|
|
ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians | eco-pres.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
