Stewardship Book Study & Mission Lab Cohort

Two Interrelated Opportunities for You and Your Congregation to Navigate the Shifts We are All Feeling and to Participate in the New Thing We Think God is up to Here in SWPA.

Funding Forward:
Six-Week Summer Book Study

Thursdays, June 25-July 30
7 PM on Zoom >>

Join a synod-wide book study on Funding Forward led by Pastor Erin Jones. Drawing on years of teaching, research, and field work, author Grace Duddy Pomroy shows there are no one-size-fits-all solutions for church and nonprofit finances. While the tools and models can spark creativity, congregational leaders often wonder what process they might use to discern God's mission, which tools will work best in their context, and how they might get other congregational leaders on board. Funding Forward can help ministers and ministries move through the funding forward process from start to finish. Co-sponsored by the Synod's Care and Leadership of Congregations Committee and the Stewardship Team.

Reading Funding Forward with the book study or individually is a prerequisite for joining Mission Lab.

MISSION LAB:
Experimenting with New Possibilities for Ministry Where You Are

Friday, October 2 @ 5 PM 
Thru Saturday, October 3 @ 4 PM
Lutherlyn Camp 

What happens when a congregation becomes a kind of lab: curious, attentive, and willing to try something new? Mission Lab is designed for congregational teams to engage in prayer, discernment, and hands-on exploration of their unique mission and context. 

Through guided exercises and coaching support, teams will explore their congregation’s mission and vision, map their neighborhood and its needs, and name the gifts already present among them. Like any good lab, there is space to test what you are learning. In the months following the retreat, teams can propose a ministry experiment with the opportunity to receive funding and ongoing coaching support. The goal is not perfection, it’s faithful curiosity. Together, we will see what becomes possible when we pay attention, take a step, and trust that God is already at work in ways we are just beginning to notice.

Dear Beloved Siblings in Christ,

It has been an honor and a joy to enter into the work of being your Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop! Thank you for the ways in which you have welcomed me into your congregations, included me in your prayers, and shared your hopes, dreams, and worries for the Body of Christ. I’m looking forward to continuing these holy conversations!

Throughout these past few months, I have heard many questions from pastors, deacons, and lay leaders: “What is next for our congregation?” “How can we continue to be faithful disciples when the church looks so different from what we have known?” “If we don’t do something different, I’m afraid we won’t be sustainable for very long?” If you have had these or similar concerns come up in your congregation, you are not alone! The whole church is experiencing seismic shifts in ministry models, giving patterns, and values alignment. For many of our congregations, the thought of trying something new feels overwhelming.

And yet, we know that God promises, “Behold! I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:19). We are a people who put our hope in God doing the unexpected and seemingly impossible, in the face of overwhelming opposition.

We are also a people that face challenges and new things together. As a synod, we walk together with the Risen Christ, pointing out possibilities and opportunities for one another so that new things can be made more clear. Leaning into this gift of being a connected church, it is my pleasure to invite you into the work of asking the questions we have about doing church in new ways with hope by being in deeper relationship with one another.

We are offering two interrelated opportunities for you and your congregation to navigate the shifts we are all feeling, and to participate in the new thing we think God is up to here in SWPA. The first is a Summer Book Study on Funding Forward by Grace Duddy Pomroy. You can attend these book sessions as an individual, but I encourage you to build a team at your congregation to engage together. The second opportunity is a new program we are calling, “Mission Lab.” Congregations with teams of 3-5 leaders can apply to be a part of this year-long period of experimentation, intentionally discerning what new things God might be doing in your community.

The hope for these specific programs, and for the work of congregational vitality that we do as a synod in general, is to create space and imagination in our congregations to discern the new things God is doing, so we can take part in those things with hope and joy.

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Erin Jones
Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop