From the Bishop: The Conspiracy of Silence
Bishop Dan Schwerin calls on United Methodists to break the silence surrounding injustices fueled by powerful interests, urging the church to confront hatred and its consequences. He…
All class times must be attended to receive course credit.
Cost:
Includes lunch (Sat. only), snacks, water and coffee. Each student will need to purchase their own book.
United Methodist Heritage (Living Our United Methodist Beliefs) This course will explore the special gifts of theology, witness, and organization that The United Methodist Church brings to the church universal, how we got where we are today, and how our distinctive emphases are still needed in the 21st-century church.
Participant’s Book: Living Our United Methodist Beliefs by Kenneth L. Carder
Ministry with the Forgotten: Dementia Through a Spiritual Lens This course is designed to help laity and clergy deepen their understanding of persons living with dementia and help all maintain their identity and worth as beloved children of God. Confronting the deep personal and theological questions created by loving people with dementia, Carder calls the church to a deeper discipleship defined by the quality of our caring and receiving relationships. Participants will discover what it means to carry each other’s memories, joys, and diminishments together in community. Through loving practices that nurture and incorporate persons with Alzheimer’s and dementia into the church’s life and ministry, we experience a spiritual wholeness rooted in God’s grace beyond our own strengths and capacities.
Participant’s Book Ministry with the Forgotten: Dementia through a Spiritual Lens by Kenneth L Carder
Called to Preach Called to Preach is designed to those who have not completed formal preaching training, for pastors seeking a basic refresher course and for other who are called upon to preach in a pastor’s absence.
Participant’s Book: From Pew To Pulpit by Clifton F Gurthrie
Loving People and Planet in God’s Name This course empowers lay participants to engage local churches in creation care and environmental justice. Lay participants will see this work as the appropriate response of disciples of Jesus Christ to the realities of climate change. Using the new revised second edition of Climate Justice: A Call to Hope and Action, this course helps communities grow deeper in their faith through the caring creation of practical and context-specific spiritual practices that mitigate the effects of reckless human consumption.
Participant’s Book: Climate Justice: A Call to Hope and Action, Second Edition by Edited by Pat Watkins
Exploring a Culture of Care for a Caring Congregation This new advanced course, based on The Caring Congregation: Implementation Guide, equips participants with tools for deep listening and grows their capacity to care in difficult situations of loss – all within healthy boundaries and a thoughtful awareness of the varying cultural contexts of caring ministry
Participant’s Book: The Caring Congregation Ministry: Implementation Guide by Karen Lampe & Melissa Gepford
QUESTIONS? Contact Kim Emery
Bishop Dan Schwerin calls on United Methodists to break the silence surrounding injustices fueled by powerful interests, urging the church to confront hatred and its consequences. He…
Laypeople reclaimed their callings and God’s grace in their lives at the Northern Illinois Laity Convocation, Feb. 8 at New Lenox United Methodist Church.
Rev. Charlene Hill, a member of the Northern Illinois Conference, passed away on Monday, January 27, 2025.
Bishop Dan Schwerin, Rev. Dr. Audrea Nanabray, and Rev. Fabiola Grandon-Mayer listened to the concerns of Lincoln and Adalberto United Methodists when they visited th…