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Workshop 1: Contemplating Shared Ministry
Workshop 1: Contemplating Shared MinistrySaturday, February 26, 2020
2 PM Eastern/1 PM Central on Zoom
You are invited to engage in a new initiative, Churches Joining Forces. This Southeast Conference UCC initiative has been created to offer space and tools for exploring the different ways congregations and ministry settings can come together to strengthen our ministry and share our gifts, this series of events will focus on everything from parallel programming to event collaboration to space sharing and beyond.
Our first workshop, Contemplating Shared Ministry, will be facilitated by Rev. Samantha Houser and Rev. Ellis Arnold, both Associate Conference Ministers from the Tri-Conference Ministry Team (Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota Conferences of the United Church of Christ). Please be sure to read about these dynamic presenters below.
This opening event is perfect for all congregation leaders and clergy in both local churches and specialized ministry settings Register in advance for this meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkcumqqzMuGNdZALRFKOloTl9h0s5qbLfT
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Reverend Ellis Arnold is a renewing church pastor, curriculum writer, community organizer, and all-around church nerd. After working for the Southeast Conference and as a chaplain in Atlanta, GA, Ellis was puzzled to be enthusiastically saying yes to joining in ministry with a congregation in Decorah, IA. There, Ellis and the church found their gifts for creativity, radical hospitality, and innovation; their grounding in worship, love, and service; and their delight in developing new avenues for spiritual formation. Now serving as one of the Associate Conference Ministers for the Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota Conferences of the UCC, Ellis’s energy gets channeled into collaboration with congregations and people of faith who are striving to transform not just the three feet around them, but also their communities and the world into a more just, generous, liberated place.
Ellis is the writer behind the facilitator guide augmenting the UCC’s White Privilege, Let’s Talk curriculum as well the developer of Exploring UCC History, Polity, and Theology, a congregational curriculum sponsored by the UCC’s MESA team. Outside the church, Ellis enjoys spending time in their stained glass studio or out biking through the rolling hills of the Driftless Region.
Rev. Arnold’s pronouns are they/them/theirs.
Reverend Samantha Houser is a post-liberal Christian who consistently questions tradition to get at the why of practice. Sam tries daily to accept human diversity, offers practical and pastoral ways to care for community, has a strong desire to be engaged in social justice issues that affect our siblings in this great big world we live in AND feels strongly about the need for tangible, holy environmental stewardship of the earth.
Sam’s ministry role is serving as one of the Associate Conference Ministers for the Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota Conferences of the UCC, Sam’s excitement can be seen in the connections being made with congregations and people of faith who are striving to embrace the faith that we proclaim as followers of Christ.
Rev. Houser’s pronouns are she/her/hers.
