Small Wonders 2015
Our second Small Wonders conference was a great success! More than 65 people from around the Great Plains conference joined together to celebrate, study and experience “worship”.
Rev. Dottie Escobedo-Frank, keynote speaker, powerfully shared from her personal experiences and learnings as a worship leader. She reminded us that all ground is holy ground and as worship leaders we must be authentic and relevant in the context in which we find ourselves.
Dottie Escobedo-Frank speaks about the holy ground and how we are all clay in the Potter's hands.
This year's worship designer, Teresa Stewart, is the founder of Paper Bag Cathedrals. She is a layperson with a passion for simple, lavish worship in the small membership church. Teresa's worship designs and experiential offerings created meaningful and relevant worship for all of us in small attendance congregations.
Above, she reminds us to remember our baptism and be glad!
Along with these great, full-group sessions we had great learning times in workshops on many topics related to worship. Keep your eyes open for more learning opportunities ahead!
5 Ways small churches can have a big impact (and 14 ideas to make it happen)
Sometimes it doesn’t seem fair. Large churches have large budgets, several full-time staff members, and name recognition in the community. Small churches usually have none of those things. Yet that doesn’t make our desire to have an impact on our surrounding community any smaller. So, how do we reach out without big resources?
Here are some simple and practical ideas on how smaller churches can have big impact.
Follow the link for the full article by Rick Whitter.
Honor local school teachers with a luncheon.
Bake cookies for civil servants: police, fire fighters, military personnel.
Host an Independence Day picnic, including a color guard.
Enter a float in a community parade.
Honor local athletes and student scholars with a banquet.
Host an art exhibit for local artists.
Host a classic car show.
Feed the homeless.
Provide gift baskets for parents of new babies at the local hospital.
Host a recovery group or a reading club.
Provide manicures for local nursing home residents.
Have a clean up day at a local park.
Plant a community garden.
Open a food pantry.
The Medical Loan Closet
The Medical Loan Closet in Wichita, KS is a great place to share durable medical equipment you no longer need or borrow medical equipment that you or a family member needs to use. It is a great ministry so please share the word! If you would like start a similar ministry in your community – no matter what size of town or country you have, contact Lloyd Hanna. He would love to help people get started. 316-200-2005.
For more information on the Medical Loan Closet in Wichita, click here.
Resources
Fun ideas to reach children and youth!
As church pastors and lay leaders, we often think we don’t need help from others— just God. This article reminds us that we all need other people.
Though this article is written for the business world, it has great insights for all of us on leadership. When it talks about employees think about the volunteers with whom we work in church life and ministry.
10 Awesome Tips for Being a Better Leader from Entrepreneur Magazine. These tips even have sub articles. I found most of this to be directly applicable to all leaders in congregations – lay and clergy.
Here is one of the sub-articles on 8 pitfalls of leadership. The article says it's for new leaders, but they apply to all of us who are leaders.
Rev. Micki McCorkle
Small Membership Church Coordinator
9440 East Boston, Suite 110
Wichita, Kansas 67207, United States
800-745-2350 or 316-684-0266
Cell: 316-210-3996
mmccorkle@greatplainsumc.org
____________________________
Small Membership Church Coordinator
9440 East Boston, Suite 110
Wichita, Kansas 67207, United States
800-745-2350 or 316-684-0266
Cell: 316-210-3996
mmccorkle@greatplainsumc.org
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment