How do you transform the negative energy expressed as an “anxiety of survival” into a confident and attractive vision of the Bible we can all share and explore with each other? This question was asked last year by the Presbytery of Kingston. We felt God was calling us forward and as a presbytery we wondered how to provide leadership and resources to equip our ministers and elders for this transformation.
Having articulated the problem, we began our journey. We networked with many people at national offices to find a way forward. Adapting a conference similar to Stewards by Design seemed to make sense given the proven track record of that model.
However, there were two limitations of which we were aware: Preparation for the conference and follow up afterwards.
The Presbytery of Kingston has 17 churches within its bounds and we felt it was important to get every church on board. Presbytery approved a conference involving every congregation. We initially began to budget for teams of four from each congregation. Knowing that we would have 68 participants was key for setting the budget and finding a conference centre large enough to accommodate our numbers. We also benefitted from a sample budget for Stewards by Design in order to help us understand the kinds of expenses we might incur.
Presbytery approved a budget of $34,000 and an application to five different funds — Vine Conference Fund and Leadership Links, the Experimental Fund, Canada Ministries and the Ewart Endowment for Theological Education. Each congregation was asked to pay $1,000 in monthly increments of $200 to assist in cash flow. Any congregation choosing not to participate in the conference was asked to pay an additional $500. Paying more not to participate proved to be great incentive.
We contacted Dr. Kennon L. Callahan, author of numerous books on congregational development, and a frequent speaker at Stewards by Design conferences. To address the first limitation and to insure that participants were familiar with Callahan’s books, we had three pre-conference workshops led by Rev. Dr. Rick Horst. The plan was to encourage congregations to create a team who would see this process through. The willingness of our elders and members to get involved speaks to a high level of commitment we can celebrate and honour in each of our congregations. Within a month of beginning our journey we had over 60 people at our first pre-conference event and more than 65 at the remaining two in January and March.
We approached businesses within the presbytery to underwrite the costs of our meals and breaks during the conference. It was imperative that we did not apply to different funds to cover the same costs and that our funders understood exactly what the money was paying for. We were wonderfully surprised by the response from the business community: Empire Life, CanWealth Financial, Qualified Financial Services, Templemann Menninga LLP, Rideau Acres Campground and Estate and Corporate Group Ltd. sponsored about half of our meals and breaks. One of our funders put it best when he commented that he was, “proud to be a partner in possibility with us.”
On May 13, day one of the conference, we had 65 participants. A talented and remarkable group of people assembled from Trenton to Gananoque and as far north as Madoc, taking time from work and other commitments, to share and dream about their church. From the moment of the first worship with Rev. Dr. Herb Gale the participants felt they were part of something special. The comments on the evaluations included: ‘Unreal. Very powerful. Insightful. Beyond useful. Excellent and amazing.’ More than simply a mountain-top experience, the conference addressed our anxiety and many felt hopeful.
As a presbytery, we are in the middle of discerning what to do next. There is much congregations can and will do on their own and there are some things we can do as a presbytery. Part of our movement forward is to make time at our presbytery meeting for our congregations to share their successes and excellent mistakes. We are talking about creating a presbytery website which will include a section to post and share ideas and continue the conversation. With the money left over from the conference, the presbytery hopes to establish a ministry growth fund which can be used for new endeavours within our bounds.
A deep sense of community formed as congregations shared and realized they were not alone and that presbytery can offer transformative resources. Planning something like this conference was much easier as many people understood its importance and participated with such grace and enthusiasm.
