Leadership Day - Oct 11 Registration REMINDER! Great LFD Workshops!
Patricia Infante
Please don't miss this opportunity to receive a wealth of leadership tools
to support staff and lay leaders in creating and sustaining a healthy and
vibrant congregational life, sponsored by the Joseph Priestley District and
being held at the UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ on Saturday, October 11, 2008
from 9 am-3:30 pm.
Workshops will address such vital topics as: Leadership Development,
Volunteer Management, Promising Practices for Welcoming Newcomers, Nurturing
Stewardship and Growing A Multigenerational Community.
Registration info can be found on the district home page at www.jpduua.org
In addition, two complete full-day trainings are being offered (at no
additional charge):
Facilitating Small Group Ministry presented by members of the SGM Network
This track includes two workshops for program coordinators and facilitators
who wish to:
* Establish a Small Group Ministry program in their congregation
(Morning Sessions). Topics covered in these sessions include introduction
to Small Group Ministry, the Covenant process, and the SGM experience.
* Enhance facilitator training in established SGM programs (Afternoon
Sessions). Topics covered in these sessions include cultivating the
Facilitator as spiritual leader and key success factor for Coordinators and
Facilitators.
Involve Training for Welcoming All Children and Youth Into Our Faith
Communities presented by Sally Patton, author of Welcoming Children with
Special Needs, a Guidebook for Faith Communities.
A One Day Involve Training: Welcoming All Children and Youth into Our Faith
Communities.
The purpose of this Involve workshop is to train religious educators,
ministers and lay leaders to minister to children with special challenges
and insure their successful inclusion into the life of our UU congregations.
The Involve workshop usually includes 15 hours of training. This one day
training will incorporate as much material as possible from the longer
training which includes: assessment methods, teaching strategies,
sensitivity training, hands-on training activities, and discussions
concerning pastoral and congregational care.
Serving children with special needs is an immensely complicated process.
While our churches are not social service agencies, it is critically
important for religious education, pastoral care and social advocates to
understand the complexity and enormous challenges and stress families
experience with a special needs child. In order to provide an effective and
compassionate ministry, congregations need to understand the complex
spiritual, ethical and moral concerns that affect how we as a society treat
children and youth with special needs. Involve training will help us build
a welcoming ministry for all families that want to attend our churches.
Opening our hearts and minds to serving children with special needs
strengthens our commitment to the Unitarian Universalist principle of
affirming the worth and dignity of every person. Ministering to children
with differences helps us not only to be more creative about ministry to all
our children, but also helps us as adults to reassess or reaffirm our own
beliefs. Lessons of compassion, caring and an acceptance of differences
benefit all of us, young and old.
Workshop leader Sally Patton, Ed. M. Developmental Psychology has advocated
and worked for children with disabilities for over 35 years. For the past
several years, she has written and conducted workshops on ministering to
children with special needs in faith communities and on spiritual parenting
of children who have been labeled. She also offers private consultations
for parents who are interested in exploring the spiritual questions that
arise from parenting a child with a special needs label. Sally is the
author of Welcoming Children with Special Needs, a Guidebook for Faith
Communities. Sally conducts Involve Trainings around the country to train
religious educators, ministers, and lay leaders to assist and educate faith
communities as to the importance of ministering to children with special
challenges. Sally is the mother of two children, one of whom has special
needs.
Leadership Day represents a great opportunity and is very reasonably priced
at $40 per person including morning refreshments and lunch (AND there is a
$5 discount for Full Fair Share congregations!). The full day workshops in
particular have a limited enrollment so please register today. This
training is not just for religious educators - please invite ministers and
staff, board and committee members, Small Group Ministry facilitators, and
anyone in your community working who has an interest in nurturing a vital
and growing congregation of UU's.
Registration info can be found on the district home page at www.jpduua.org
Conserve fuel, come with a full carload!
Questions? Call me at 302-650-7185 or email p...@jpduua.org. If you are not
able to join us, will you forward this email on to someone who might be?
Can you or someone you know with a passion for leadership development make
an announcement at your congregation about this great opportunity on Sunday,
October 5th?
Cheers,
Pat
Patricia Hall Infante
Director for Lifespan Faith Development
Joseph Priestley District of the UUA
100 W. 10th St., Suite 1008
Wilmington, DE 19801
302-650-7185 (Cell)