Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Growing in Character, Skill and Knowledge

In May of 2008 the Staff Ministry Committee finished its work in developing a credentilaing process for church staff ministry leaders who are not ordained. Last week a Credentialing Committee met to interview the first four candidates for the process!

The Credentialing Committee is made up of two people who are experienced ministry staff (after the initial process these will be ministry leaders who have been credentialed), along with one member each of the Staff Ministry Committee, the Office of Pastor-Church Relations, and the faculty or staff of Calvin Theological Seminary or another college or university associated with the CRCNA. The Committee also includes one pastor from the classis of the candidate, though not from the candidate’s congregation.

My interview was at 3:30 pm—an hour I began to regret when at 3:00 afternoon drowsiness hit and my eyelids started to feel heavy! But the interview was friendly and encouraging, with questions about my faith statement, strengths and weaknesses, and why I desire to be credentialed. Over half of the bi-national committee joined us by phone from around Canada and the United States, reminding me of the scope of the credentialing process. Once credentialed in educational ministry, my credentials will hold true for every classis in the CRCNA.

After the interview I received a call from Jeanne Kallemeyn, staff ministry specialist, and member of the Credentialing Committee. She welcomed me into the process and emailed me information on the next steps—choosing a Learning Partner (LP), assessing my current level of skills, knowledge, and character for ministry, and developing an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) for growth. The credentialing process includes a summary of core requirements in each of these areas that will guide me as I work with a Learning Partner to design an ILP.

This is an exciting process—one that could bless individuals, churches, and the whole denomination as educational ministries are strengthened!

If you’re interested in becoming credentialed in church education contact Jeanne Kallemeyn at jkallemeyn@crcna.org or 616-726-1152 for more information.

written by Jolanda Howe, CRC Educator

Monday, February 22, 2010

Debriefing

Six people from our church attended Worship Symposium at Calvin College this January. The group included our pastor, my husband and me. On Friday afternoon I sat next to Amy, one of our church members, before a vesper worship started and we began sharing. She commented that we should all get together and share what we had seen and heard. I mentioned this to our pastor who was all for the idea -- “Any time volunteers are willing to get together and talk about worship, it is a good thing.” So after several emails back and forth we identified the one date in the next two weeks that worked.

As my husband and I talked about how to organize the meeting we thought about writing down all the ideas on a white board but it seemed too much like a meeting where we were trying to get something done instead of a time to share. We talked about making a topic list ahead of time and hitting the topics we were interested in: Prayer, Visual art, Music, Worship, Psalms but again that was maybe too organized for what we were trying to accomplish. At last I decided to just run through the schedule, day by day and see what struck the participant each day. That may not have been the best choice. We began by reviewing Thursday, followed by Friday and by that point we were off on tangents about the things we learned at symposium. I don’t think we ever talked about Saturday. But we did have a great discussion anyway.

So what did we learn? The biggest thing I learned is that gathering to debrief is a great thing – and maybe not having the debrief super-organized helped in the long run. Our discussion quickly focused on a topic I never expected: drama in worship and making better power point presentations. As a group we gathered around these ideas and generated the next steps for our church. We are checking into materials to do a drama at our church. We are talking to the tech committee to see if they are enthused about improving our visuals. We also are now accountable to each other to move this forward. We as a group are accountable for this – not me alone.

The next time I do this, though, I would ask each person before the meeting to think about one thing that struck them during Symposium and begin the meeting with those highlights. Then after giving everyone a chance to speak we could then open the discussion to the whole group. The hour and half was very well spent. Best of all, the ideas we discussed are now owned by the whole group, not by just one person. We are all excited about a couple of new ideas and how we can incorporate that into the life of the church.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Baptism/ Faith Milestone Idea


At Symposium my husband Bob and I presented at a session about Faith Milestones. We have recently written the book Celebrating the Milestones of Faith published by Faith Alive.

The people who came to our session were great. One participant said that when her daughter was baptized, she had received a large picture frame with a mat and an opening for a 5 x 7 picture (I have one in my basement that we bought at Bed Bath and Beyond for my daughter’s wedding. It is called a signature frame.) The vow that the congregation makes during the service was written on the mat. Every person at the baptism signed the mat as they left the service. The frame and mat were given to her and her husband who later added a picture of the child from that day. What a wonderful reminder of the promise made at baptism and the promises made by the people of God who surrounded her.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Sing With the World

Last week I attended the Calvin Worship Symposium held in Grand Rapids. At the Conference I met Alison Adam from England. She led a group of high school students and teachers in learning some new songs as well as two children’s school groups in a worship service and a sectional. She introduced her new songs book and CD Sing with the World: Global songs for Children. Written with John Bell, the songs are delightfully and easy to sing. I especially like the song “Don’t be Afraid”. The lyrics are:

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger

My love is stronger than your fear.

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger

And I have promised, promised to be always near.

This is a great song to sing with “When I am Afraid”. It is also useful in worship with it's wonderful promise of assurance.

Alison also recommended the CD "Down To Earth" by fischy music. It can be purchased two ways: a CD with just the audio or and audio CD and a CD -ROM that includes teaching notes, lyric sheets, music and videos showing signs and actions. The video part is very simple -- one or two people talking and singing unaccompanied. The songs are also great with titles like" God Knows Everything", "Written on the Palm of God's Hand" and "Part of your Plan".

I bought both of these resources and have already found songs that I could use with the kids at our church.