Creating Best Practices for Creation Care

November 30, 2022 @ 3:00 pm 4:00 pm EST

Hurricanes. Floods. Heatwaves. Our world is experiencing an increased amount of these natural disasters because of rising temperatures. What can Disciples do to address climate change and be responsible stewards of the environment? Learn the answer to this question and much more with host and Transitional Minister of New Church Strategies, Rev. Dr. Jose Martinez, at New Church Ministry’s New Church Hacks webinar.

Panellists

David Bell is the Minister for Indigenous Justice at the Center for Indigenous Ministries (DOC). In this role, David has helped guide the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to recognize its settler-colonist roots, repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, become more honest with its racist origins, and engage in action-based Indigenous justice.

The son of Robert and Kay Bell, David lives on the JustLiving Farm, located in the Toppenish Creek valley of the Yakama Nation. With friends and neighbors, the JustLiving Farm has become a place where folk are welcome to spend time talking about, imagining, and acting in favor of Creational justice. Believing creational wholeness and harmony is at our fingertips, David invites us to question how our lives intersect with our local landscape, listen for Creation’s insight to enhance our sibling’s well-being, and open ourselves to her plea for action.

Dan Paul is the Senior Pastor of First Christian Church of Huntsville, TX. He will be consulting in oversight of Blue Theology with Creation Justice Ministries and will be part of the staff at the Blue Theology Outpost in Texas City, Texas. He previously served at the Christian Church of Pacific Grove where he was the director of the Blue Theology Mission Station on the Monterey Bay.

“In a time where there is a lot of ‘bad theology’ preached denying the climate crisis, it is crucial that mainline church leaders speak out about how human beings are interdependent with nature and not removed from it.”

Brooks Berndt is the UCC’s Environmental Justice Minister. Before becoming the UCC Minister for Environmental Justice in 2015, Berndt served as a pastor in Vancouver, Washington, where he was active in two successful environmental campaigns: transitioning the state of Washington away from its only coal plant and preventing the establishment of the largest marine oil terminal in the country in Vancouver. Berndt is the author of two books: Sounding the Trumpet: How Churches Can Answer God’s Call to Justice and Cathedral on Fire!: A Church Handbook for the Climate Crisis. As the Minister for Environmental Justice, Berndt led the way in the issuing of the UCC’s 2020 report entitled “Breath to the People: Sacred Air and Toxic Pollution” which identifies 100 of the nation’s super polluters and how their toxic emissions threaten communities and children, especially in places such as Houston, Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, and Ohio’s Lake Erie coast. Berndt writes and edits an environmental justice newsletter called The Pollinator, while co-hosting monthly Creation Justice Webinars which have featured everyone from the climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe to Senator Cory Booker.

Navigating Grief in Children and Youth Ministry

Season 4, Episode 2

July 27, 2022 @ 3:00 pm 4:00 pm EDT

Our young people have been through a lot of compound grief in the last several years. Between school shootings and other forms of mass gun violence, racial injustice, and the ever-growing climate crisis, the youth in our communities are feeling the stresses of our society on top of a global pandemic that has killed over 6 million people. How do you minister to them during this time? In this New Church Hacks episode, our panellists will explore tangible ways we can minister to our young people and help them navigate the grief they are experiencing.

PANELLISTS

Christle Reed has worked in the education field for over 10 years. Each year has been directly focused on servicing the social/emotional needs of her students. She is also a published author with one of her books, Hugs from the Sky, being used across the United States to help support students with properly grieving the loss of a loved one. Outside of serving her students and writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three amazing kids. 

Mariah Newell is an ordained minister who serves as the Kids, Youth, and Family Minister at Cypress Creek Christian Church in Northwest Houston, Texas. Mariah has spent the last five years serving at Cypress Creek. Before that, she served as the Program Director at Camp MoVal in Union, Missouri. Ministering to kids and youth is where Mariah has and continues to feel called to serve. She feels passionate about telling others about the compassion, innovation, radical inclusion, and love she sees the younger generations bring to the Table that tends to be overlooked or unappreciated. Mariah loves to spend her free time with her husband and their dog hiking and gardening.

Joselyn Spence serves as the Director of the National Benevolent Association (NBA)’s Mental Health and Wellness Initiative. In this position, she works to design and implement programs that promote holistic wellness across all NBA programs. Joselyn has a wealth of experience in mental health and community care. As a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Registered Art Therapist (ATR), she received advanced education and training to provide trauma-informed services to diverse groups of people of all races, backgrounds, and ages from 3 to 80. Joselyn is a Registered Yoga and Meditation teacher (RYT-200), who has created embodied bible study experiences for the community. She is passionate about mental health care, holistic wellness, communal care ethics, and spirituality.

Rev. Margie Quinn hails from Nashville, Tennessee. She is an ordained minister through the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and received her Master of Divinity in the spring of 2019 with a concentration in Preaching and a certificate in Gender, Sexuality and Theology.

Margie grew up working at summer camps across the southeast. She has been passionate about young people for as long as she can remember. Margie has served as the Summer Camp Director at Christmount Retreat Center in Black Mountain, North Carolina and the Program Director at Bethany Hills Camp in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. She is thrilled to continue her work in youth and young adult ministry as the Youth and Young Adult Minister at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Margie also coaches ultimate frisbee at a local Jewish middle school. Margie is the proud aunt of seven nieces and nephews. 


New Church Hacks provides practical (and sometimes peculiar) prompts for churches from start to restart. This free webinar series, hosted by Jose Martinez (interim Minister of New Church Strategies), is jam-packed with clever solutions to tricky problems and empowers courageous leaders with the tools, tips and how-tos to start, sustain and strengthen congregations. For regular updates, be sure to check this page and follow along on social media with #NewChurchHacks!

A link to a recording of the webinar will be emailed to all registrants after the episode airs, regardless of attendance.

While this webinar takes place on Zoom, you can also join us on New Church Ministry’s Facebook page, where the episode will be streamed live.

Crucial Hacks to Decolonize Your Church

Season 3, Episode 4

October 13, 2021 @ 3:00 pm 4:00 pm EDT

In recent years, the term “decolonization” has entered popular vocabulary, drawing attention to the role of religious organizations in gentrification and the history of colonial oppression. This subject is complex and frequently fraught with contradicting ideas about defining religious ideals, colonialism, and its victims. How can congregations uphold their standards while actively combating social injustice? In this New Church Hacks episode, we unpacked these ideas and:

  • Focused on anti-racism as an approach to church development and community engagement
  • Created space for conversations and practical ways in which to shape and reshape congregational DNA to reflect anti-racist discipleship
  • Raised awareness of the ways in which your congregation is colonialistic 

Host Pastor Terrell McTyer was joined by featured guests Brandon Wrencher (Minister and Organizer of the Good Neighbor Movement), Naomi Washington-Leapheart (Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs for the City of Philadelphia and Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force), and Chris Morton (Regional Minister of Disciples of Christ in Nebraska and Director of Cotner College Educational Ministries).


New Church Hacks provides practical (and sometimes peculiar) prompts for churches from start to restart. This free webinar series is jam-packed with clever solutions to tricky problems and empowers courageous leaders with the tools, tips and how-tos to start, sustain and strengthen congregations. For regular updates, be sure to check this page and follow along on social media with #NewChurchHacks!

A link to a recording of the webinar will be emailed to all registrants after the episode airs, regardless of attendance.

You can either view the webinar on Zoom by registering below or by watching Terrell, Brandon, Naomi, and Chris live on New Church Ministry’s Facebook page.

A Dozen Hacks for Digital Disciple-Making

September 1, 2021 @ 3:00 pm 4:00 pm EDT

The rise of social media and digital platforms has opened up a whole new world of virtual discipleship possibilities. Because digital discipleship is still relatively new, you may find that you lack the necessary understanding to make disciples of Jesus Christ via virtual platforms effectively. This New Church Hacks episode will teach you how to develop in-demand digital media abilities that can be used for the glory of God: 

  • Make digital discipleship a central part of your church’s ministry approach
  • Provide principles and practical instruction no matter the size of your collective
  • Make the Gospel available electronically through emerging technologies
  • Leverage digital strategies to lead your participants into a deeper relationship with Christ
  • Fulfill the Great Commission using relevant, 21st Century tactics

The featured guests include Phiwa Langeni (Ambassador for Innovation & Engagement with the Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD) in the United Church of Christ), Loren Baxter (Director of Technology Resources at Brite Divinity School), and Loren Richmond (pastor, podcaster, and social entrepreneur).


Hosted by Pastor Terrell L McTyer, Minister of New Church Strategies for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, New Church Hacks provides practical (and sometimes peculiar) prompts for churches from start to restart. This free webinar series is jam-packed with clever solutions to tricky problems and empowers courageous leaders with the tools, tips and how-tos to start, sustain and strengthen congregations. For regular updates, be sure to check this page and follow along on social media with #NewChurchHacks!

A link to a recording of the webinar will be emailed to all registrants after the episode airs, regardless of attendance. You can also join us on our Facebook page to watch a live video of the webinar.

Webinar: Secure a Firm Financial Foundation

October 28, 2020 @ 3:00 pm 5:00 pm EDT

Building a budget, eliminating debt, and investing your savings will help your community of faith build a solid financial foundation for long-term success. What simple but significant changes could revolutionize giving at your church? In this New Church Hacks episode, we will:

  • Discover how vision clarity gives your stewardship life
  • Learn how generous leadership draws followers
  • Construct pillars for financial success
  • Understand the spiritual relationship between scarcity and abundance
  • Celebrate what you have, not what you don’t

The episode’s featured guests included Belinda King, the Building and Capital Services Advisor for the Canada, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Capital Area, and North Eastern Regions and Vice President of Disciples Church Extension FundBruce Barkhauer, the Director of the Center for Faith and Giving, and Mike Mather, the pastor of First UMC of Boulder, Colorado and the author of Having Nothing, Possessing Everything: Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places.

Thanks for joining us for the last webinar of the season and we’ll see you in the new year!

Free

New Church Ministry

317-713-2529

http://newchurchministry.solutions4ebiz.com/

After the episode, the guests and host go live on the New Church Ministry Facebook page for a Q&A with Lisa Pilat, a Building Manager and Church Manager/Bookkeeper.


Hosted by Pastor Terrell L McTyer, Minister of New Church Strategies for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, New Church Hacks provides practical (and sometimes peculiar) prompts for churches from start to restart. This free webinar series is jam-packed with clever solutions to tricky problems and empowers courageous leaders with the tools, tips and how-tos to start, sustain and strengthen congregations.

In addition, a link to a recording of the webinar is emailed to all registrants after the episode airs, regardless of attendance.

For regular updates, be sure to follow along on social media with #NewChurchHacks!