Continuing the church-wide emphasis on urban ministries, The Wesleyan Church’s Department of Spiritual Formation will be training North American Wesleyans to develop community based ministries in cities, towns, and regions where their churches are located.
The department will train pastors, church staff, non-profit leaders, and volunteers in one-day, regional workshops, called Community Café. Its purpose is to “encourage, train, and educate churches to seek and bear witness to the mission of God, by reclaiming, restoring, and redeeming our cities and communities.”
The Midwest Café is scheduled for April 14, in Marion, Indiana, and the South Café is scheduled for April 21, in Rockledge, Florida. For more information or to register, visit the Café information page.
Rev. Jeremy Summers, director of Adult Ministries for the Spiritual Formation Department at The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters, will coordinate the workshops. He said community based ministry is a way to not only transform the life of the church, but also to transform the community surrounding it.
“Key objectives for the Cafes will include: training by seasoned community based ministry leaders, networking with other leaders; strategic planning, discussion of current trends, issues, and best practices; and question and answer times.”
The Spiritual Formation Department has built a ministry relationship with Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) and will collaborate with the well known organization to run the Cafés, maximizing training resources and personnel.
Churches will become involved with community based ministry by including elements learned at the Café into their existing ministry. The hope is that churches will look outside its walls to disciple people and change the communities they live in. Summers said, “It’s important for us to bear witness to those we serve; transformed lives equate to transformed communities.”
