In an effort to better equip motivated congregations to respond to God’s call, a collaborative Michigan Area Leadership Excellence Task Force has rolled out pilot versions of a clergy and lay member development program called the Vital Church Initiative (VCI) in the Flint and Albion Districts.
The voluntary initiative has been in development since the fall of 2010 and it will aim to intentionally use coaching to facilitate learning and increase accountability among leaders and members of churches of all sizes.
Bishop Keaton created the Task Force in late 2009 with the intention of addressing clergy excellence, believing that the health and vitality of local churches is often directly related to the leadership skills of clergy members.
Clergy and laity who agree to be part of the pilot programs are in covenant to attend each four-hour session, read the preparatory materials and take care of travel expenses.
Each church will come out of the VCI program with an action plan.
They will also have the opportunity for a full-day consultation of their church with a trained consultant.
Based on a comprehensive learning model called the “Healthy Church Initiative and Small Church Initiative” in the Missouri Conference, the “large church” component (more than 100 members worshipping on average) will be piloted in the Flint District and the “small church” component (less than 100 members worshipping on average) has already started in the Albion District. A similar pilot program is expected to begin in the Lansing District later this year.
The large church VCI includes parallel clergy and laity leadership development tracks for pastors and for chosen lay leaders
Twelve clergy will gather one Monday morning each month for eight months at the Detroit Conference Office in Flint, with approximately 24 laity meeting the following Saturday each month for their session.
The preparatory and presentation materials for clergy and laity are essentially the same, with some material specific to each group.
Each VCI session will focus on a theme from a primary text and be facilitated by pastors and conference leaders.
The facilitators for the sessions were chosen by Jerome (Jerry) DeVine, Director of Connectional Ministries of the Detroit Conference, Eugene Blair, Flint District Superintendent, Richard Dake, chair of the Order of Elders and lead pastor of Clarkston UMC, and Terry Gladstone, Conference Staff Consultant. This team will give oversight to the VCI Flint pilot, gleaning insights from facilitators and participating clergy and laity.
Examples of books being used are Shaped by God’s Heart by Milfred Minatrea and The Externally Focused Church by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson.
The facilitators for the eight sessions are: Jerry DeVine, Ken Nash, Melanie Carey, Terry Gladstone, Charles Boayue, Jeff Nelson, Rick Dake, and Anthony Hood.
The program will strive to bring together the spiritual education and development of pastors and the spiritual and educational development and business sense of lay leaders to help focus on changing leadership, communication, outreach and evangelism.
Program participants should come to understand how culture has changed the church and how “mission-driven” churches are reaching others for Christ in the 21st century.
It will also provide them with new ministry tools, create cohesiveness among district churches and prepare congregations for continued growth.
The “small church” VCI pilot is being hosted by the Quincy United Methodist Church, with a focus on helping develop leadership skills of small membership churches, pastors and laity to help them better lead themselves and reach out to their communities.
They will learn about similar ministry tools and strategies as the larger churches, but look at unique ways they can implement them in smaller congregations with less resources.
The seven-session program — which will be hosted one Saturday a month in March, April, June, September, October and November — is created to help churches eventually cast new visions and help them develop plans and set goals for the future of their ministry.
Primary texts of the program include Evangelism in the Small Membership Church by Royal Speidel and Vital Signs by Dan Dick.
The small church VCI sessions are being developed and facilitated by Benton Heisler, the West Michigan Director of Connectional Ministries and Naomi García, the West Michigan Conference Ministry Consultant.
Missouri Conference leaders have noted their teaching/learning sessions has improved morale and created more synergy among local churches.
It has also helped develop deeper discipleship and renewed the urgency for accountability among churches.
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