The Kerusso – October | 2018 Kerusso (Greek): “To publish, proclaim openly: something which has been done.”
EMC’s 2018 Pastor’s Summit (USA Conference) In early August of this year, our newly elected International General Superintendent, Max Edwards, and the USA Cabinet of Superintendents invited credential holders across the US to respond to several key questions: •
Reflecting on your time in the EMC, what is something that has been the most meaningful to you?
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What is something the denomination has done that you'd like to see us do more often?
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What would you say is our greatest need?
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What would you like the EMC to be most passionate about?
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Thanks for considering these structured questions. Is there anything else you'd like to share?
The goal in seeking this feedback was to gain an understanding of where our greatest efforts might be applied in order to stimulate growth and development as a conference. Pastor Max felt a clear leading to invite a cross-section of pastors from around the country to gather to process the responses. Pastors from our nine largest USA church families came, and they were asked to invite a pastor from a smaller church to come with them. 18 pastors from 10 states representing nearly ¾ of our conference membership came to the Heritage Learning Center on August 16 th to meet together for a day to process the responses, and to collaboratively determine our best courses of action. Of the 5 questions asked in the survey, perhaps the most telling were the answers to the second: “What is something the denomination has done that you’d like to see us do more often?” The conclusion of a rich and healthy discussion was that our Superintendents would look to the future with these five priorities in their ministry to the churches and pastors across the US: 1. Localized Journey Meetings 2. Pastor’s Schools and Training 3. Retreats 4. Planting Churches 5. Meaningful Contact with the Superintendents In immediate response to the first priority, the Cabinet of Superintendents proposed to General Council on September 13 th that we host four “Journey” meetings in 2019. The Discipline ¶402 reads, “There shall be at least one Journey session in the districts in each non-General Conference year. The districts may have a joint Journey session.” One of the primary goals of having more meeting locations is so that most people will be able to drive to them rather than have to pay the expense to fly. We are trusting that this will enable more pastors to come, as well as encouraging them to bring more lay people with them to the annual meeting. The four locations and dates for USA Journey meetings in 2019 are: • • • •
Arizona City EMC, Arizona City, AZ | January 10-11 (all day) Refuge Ministries EMC, Copperas Cove, TX | March 19-20 (all day) Kingdom EMC, Westover, WV | May 7-8 (all day) Crossroads Community Church, Nampa, ID | May 20-22 (begins with dinner on the 20 th – concludes at noon the 22nd)