Nimble Wise and Innovative: Being Judicatory Staff in the 21st Century
Save the Date! November 13-17, 2011
By Pat Taylor Ellison

Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site.

Click here for the main Nimble Judicatory Retreat page including registration information and a detailed schedule.

Where do judicatory staff leaders go to learn how to do the work they do? How do they get support and nurture? Church Innovations is developing a pilot program that our friend and colleague Sarah Shofstall brought to us, one that will bring leaders from judicatory staffs together for a four day workshop with knowledgeable presenters and time to learn from one another. We hope leaders from 7-10 judicatories across several denominations will come.

When: November 13-17, 2011
Where: Our Lady of Calvary Retreat Center, Farmington, CT
Cost: $1,000 per judicatory for program cost, plus $250 per person for room and board. This is a one-time-only low-cost for the beta testing of the program.

Workshops will include:

Innovating
How do we find God’s preferred future for our judicatories and our congregations? As our trusted ways of leading the Church seem to be ineffective, what do we do now? There is joy and excitement in finding new ways to think and operate, and together we will innovate useful ways forward from what we are learning together.

Tool Kit: Oh How I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now!
A tool kit of resources for judicatories to help make life easier. This workshop will give you ideas and resources to help you in your work with congregations. Everything from LIFO; Multiple Staff Resources; Reading materials; website ideas and a whole host of other “stuff” you might find helpful.

Missional Workflow
This workshop presents methods to define and execute meaningful steps to engage in God’s mission. The interdependent relationship between discernment and decision making will be explored as well as ways to track progress and accountability. The methodology presented is appropriate for use by individuals and communities of faith.

Conflict Transformation
Finding opportunities presented in conflicts can help a judicatory or a congregation move toward health and flourish. Judicatory resources, stretched thin, can benefit from mediators, ombudsmen and other trained volunteers.

Relationships
How does your being on a judicatory staff affect your relationship with God? Your family? Your colleagues? Old friends? “the constituents?” This workshop will explore power and boundaries and staying healthy.

QUESTIONS? Click here for more details or contact Sarah Shofstall, Diocese of Western Massachusetts at 413-737-4786 x11 or at canon@diocesewma.org Or contact Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison at Church Innovations 651-644-3653.

Pat Taylor Ellison, Ph.D., is the managing director of research for Church Innovations.