The author of “Part-time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-time Clergy,” will present TWO workshops that are highly applicable and highly valuable to our GREAT North District context.
DS Morton, a big fan of MacDonald’s work, tenaciously worked to bring this opportunity to laity and clergy all over the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.
“MacDonald is great,” Morton says. “His innovative thinking is what the church needs -what my pastors and other church leaders need at this time.“
SESSION A –Workshop #10 – Part-Time is Plenty: Changing MindsetsChanging mindsets enable lay and ordained leaders to rethink part-time ministry – not as a step toward decline or mere cost-cutting ploy, but as a strategic step toward greater vitality. This involves identifying and removing mental roadblocks, shifting expectations, learning from the research and preparing minds to envision a new way.
SESSION B –Workshop #29 – Part-Time is Plenty: Design to ThriveDesign to Thrive shows how to make vitality happen with part-time clergy in particular local settings. We explore three models for effective part-time ministry and take participants through questions to ask when discerning which is the best fit. Takeaways include how to analyze results and then strategically design a ministry that will foster vitality.
MacDonald is a part-time UCC pastor and full-time freelance journalist and author, whose religion reporting has won 19 national awards. He is also the author of the new and provocative book, “Part-time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-time Clergy.”
You can listen to a conversation with him on the Leading Ideas Talks Podcast by clicking HERE (a transcript is also available at this same link).Description: We don’t typically associate a thriving church with having a part-time pastor. Journalist and pastor Jeffrey MacDonald begs to differ as he discusses with us his new and provocative book, Part-time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-time Clergy.