Disciple Making Communities

The seminar is scheduled to begin on June 9th with lunch at noon and end after lunch on June 11th.

Is your congregation ready to learn how to be faithful in the midst of ambiguity, conflict, and uncertainty, and to support each other on the journey?  Are you eager to take on a more active role of leadership in order to help your church through the fundamental reorientation of community identity and life that happens when congregations move from maintenance to mission?

Then you’ll want to join Alban consultant Ed White in this practical exploration of what it means for mainline churches to move out of the “membership business” and into the “disciple making business”.  You’ll leave with a heightened understanding of – and ability to respond adaptively to the challenges raised by – questions such as:

• How can pastors lead their congregations to be vital disciple making communities in a society that is often described as “post modern”, “post Christian” and perhaps even “post denominational”?
• What does it mean to actually “practice our faith” in such an environment? What practices are vital Protestant congregations reclaiming as they generate new life?
• What can we learn from the so called “emergent church” movement, a growing network of congregations started by people under 40 for people under 40? Why does this generation tend to be the least represented in our traditional congregations?
• What would today’s church look like if it were no longer over-managed and under-led?  And how can pastors and laity become real partners in authentic leadership?

About Ed White

An avuncular and encouraging presence, Ed White has spent his own long career as a consultant, giving him deep knowledge of congregations and their leaders that benefits all who work with him.

Ed White has been an Alban consultant since 1989. He brings insight and experience from a distinguished career that began in an inner-city congregation in Manhattan, led him through participation in the Civil Rights movement, and then into positions of leadership in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the Washington, DC, area.  Throughout his ministry Ed has remained committed to the challenges of equipping God’s people for healthy and faithful congregational life and ministry in the world.