January 2008: Gospel
Evangel
Delegates engage Transition Team agenda at
cluster meetings
Delegates attending one of IN-MI Conference’s seven regional
cluster meetings are taking this opportunity to participate in the conference’s
ongoing transformation process.
The TT representatives also are asking
participants to answer three questions to help the TT write a job description
for the new lead conference minister and to shape the work of the search
committee for this position:
1. What qualities of character inspire you and
move you closer to God?
2. What are the character traits needed by the
lead conference minister to help nurture a missional
imagination in every congregation?
3. What gifts/abilities should the lead
conference minister have?
The answers to these questions also will
influence choices about the types of people selected to serve on the new
Advisory Council (AC) and Missional Leadership Team
(MLT).
At each cluster meeting, at least two TT
members and one search committee member will be present to listen to delegates’
conversations and opinions.
This spring marks the 21st year for the
regional cluster meetings. Other agenda items include the proposed spending
plan for 2008–09, a recommendation to increase representation in conference
leadership of people from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, and a proposal
to suspend the constitution at Annual Sessions as part of the transition
process.
By investing time in these meetings and
offering their input, delegates are contributing in a significant way to the
ongoing work of the TT and the life and ministry of the conference. Thank you
to all who are attending! Please pray for those attending the remaining
meetings.
-- Sarah Rohrer, a member of the IN-MI
Conference Transition Team, serves as youth pastor at Howard-Miami Mennonite,
Kokomo, Ind.
[Sidebar] An invitation to listen to Luke
10:1-12
During 2008, we on the IN-MI Conference Transition Team
invite you to join us in a journey of focusing on and listening to Luke 10:1-12
-- the story of Jesus sending out the 70.
As the Transition Team, we’ve been
charged by you to lead our conference together into a new understanding of what
it means to be a community of congregations who “joyfully follow Jesus and
cultivate missional imaginations in every congregation”
(our conference’s new mission statement).
As we enter further into this challenge,
we believe that both our team and the conference as a whole will navigate the
transition to the new system most “joyfully” if we find our source in
Scripture.
We are encouraging elder groups, area
councils, and participants in cluster meetings and Annual Sessions to join us
in allowing this Scripture passage to inform and shape the conference’s
transformation process, believing that its call to leave the familiar and risk
the future will be important as we go forward. We find this story to grow
richer with each reading.
As we envision the IN-MI Conference of
the future, we are convinced that our work is not simply about making technical
adjustments to our structure. Rather, we are being called to change our
thinking about how the conference furthers God’s mission. And this is exciting!
We ask you to let us know how your
“dwelling” with this passage shapes your thinking. We believe this corporate
listening process will significantly shape our work and the ongoing discernment
of who we become as a missional people. Please join
us in listening!
-- The IN-MI Transition Team: Gene Hartman
(chair), Dan Miller, Phil Mininger, Sarah Rohrer,
Bill Scott, Klaudia Smucker,
John Troyer, Tim Burkholder