Hi Folks - just occured to me today that some of you might like to know more about an upcoming conference in my Presbytery ... Ministry in Motion - for both clergy and lay leaders - looks like a great programme!   And I have an inkling RevJohn is signed up already!

http://www.haltonpres.org/featured-story/equipping-the-leaders-of-the-future

Hello all!

This message is for Treasurers and Administrators in pastoral charges, ministry sites & presbytery roles across the denomination: the Budgeting Tools for Treasurers 2012 is currently available on the Church Leadership Network. 

It will be posted shortly on the main United Church site (www.united-church.ca; search "Budgeting Tools" but that may take up to a week. Since we've been getting calls already looking for this information, I wanted to spread the word as widely as possible.

I came across this ad for one of our local radio stations. Part of the job description looks like this:

I wonder how that would look at part of the job description on a Joint Needs Assessment?

Fore those of you that recieved a paper version of the recent Pastoral Relations survey (many of you, WonderCafe folk, would have done this online)

PLEASE NOTE: Survey deadline has been extended to March 11 (Friday). 

The survey was sent our on Feb. 11, but in many cases hasn't arrived at the intended destinations until (in one notable case) Today!  ACK!

We Want Your Input: Please do complete the survey and send it it. It isn't late!

I received a survey request in my email that appears to be about Pastoral Oversight visits although that is not what the email claimed was the intent of the survey...

Considering the question to be answered of this survey is

You are invited to participate in an upcoming study to answer the question:

What would the future leadership and needs for leadership look like in The United Church of Canada?

Sally hasn't gone to church much since she started university. Away from home, Sunday morning is more about sleeping than attending a church near campus. She still attends when she goes home-maybe once a month-but doesn't find the service "upstairs" very engaging. She is a veteran of every aspect of children's programming: nursery, church school, junior youth, youth group and even a year or two as one of the youth leaders. The one thing she has little experience with is worship: particularly everything after "Children's Time."

We began Advent last Sunday with a focus on hope. As you and I have prayerfully prepared for the United Nations Climate Change talks over the days since, I've found it inspiring to see so many examples of people choosing hope over despair.

I’ve been out of the country this week fulfilling a leadership commitment to the North American Ecumenical Stewardship Center, made long before becoming Moderator. It sometimes seems easier to get a perspective on Canada from a distance, and at table with those of other nations.

I recently applied for a continuing education and training program. It asked the usual questions about education and experience, and I answered several of them truthfully, having fun with only a couple.

(But surely they wouldn't believe that I once caddied for the Salvador Dali - the time seemed to go and on - or that I was featured in the 1993 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition - the world premier of the Mankini?)

The final request was for a thoughtful paragraph describing a significant challenge facing the church.

Wow!

"Significant Challenge."

"Thoughtful" (that can be challenge enough for me some days).

And...ONE paragraph!

I was being asked to limit my thoughtfulness to one paragraph. I considered employing pictures, pictographs, subliminal messaging (daed ton si lauP), using Latin ad absurdum, footnotes, endnotes, post it notes, and I even thought about using run-on sentence as I did to my advantage as an undergrad at Trent University, on the beautiful Ottonabee River, when I wrote a paper on the Taoist influences in Oscar Wilde - "The Importance of Being and Not Being Earnest" - as well as just ignoring the instructions.

But, as always, I refuse to rebel...and, typically, followed the instructions to the letter.

The following was my submission. (Yes, I realize that this goes beyond the single paragraph limit. Arrest me, I'm a giver!)

I wonder, as our congregations "emerge" - that is become more "emergent" and spirituality becomes more personal and authority more democratized - will there be a place for classically educated, former seminary students now ordained ministers?

I wonder about this a lot.

Not just because my pension depends on it.

In my congregation all manner of folk sit side by side, not disturbed by the fact that the woman sitting next to them does not have a developed Christology, the guy behind feels more comfortable with an "Eastern" expression of the Trinity, the woman taking up the offering doesn't believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and the fellow pouring coffee considers the day that he was "born again" to be the most important day of his life.