Leadership in a Small Membership Church

Being a leader in a smaller membership church can be very challenging. Whether you are in a Lay Leadership position, a Certified Lay Minister, or a credentialed pastor, this course will help you define your personal skills, learn team building practices, establish goals, and provide concrete ideas on how to lead your church in mission and ministry.

I believe that when God calls people into leadership that God gifts us, and our church, with what we need to accomplish that call.

This course will help those who serve in leadership in their church.

Pastoral Care for Those Who Grieve

This course is designed for people seeking to serve local churches as pastoral leaders including certified lay ministers and licensed local pastors.

Participants will learn the basics of grief, how to be present for the griever, and how to do pastoral care in times of loss.

Course objectives

  1. How to be present with grieving people.
  2. Understand the grief process more clearly.
  3. Understand how to walk with grieving people.

Required Texts

Hodgson, Jada D.L. A View from the Fog; A Story of Grief and Loss and Faith and Hope. Bloomington, IN, WestBow Press, 2016. 978-1-5127-5592-3.

Hancock, Bill. Riding with the Blue Moth. Oxford, MS. Nautilus Publishing, 2015. 978-1-936-946-57-0.

Recommended Texts

Moore, James W. When Grief Breaks Your Heart. Nashville, TN, Abingdon Press, 1995. 13:978-0-687-00791-2.

Smith, Harold Ivan. ABC’s of Healthy Grieving; Light for a Dark Journey. Shawnee Mission, KS, Shawnee Mission Medical Center Foundation, 2001. 1-58597-073-5.

Meaningful Visitation in Hospitals and Retirement Homes

This course is designed for:

  • Adults with a calling or interest in meaningful pastoral/congregational caregiving including:
    • Students completing Certified Lay Ministry training
    • DSAs, Local Pastors, Licensed Local Pastors, etc.
    • Laity with an interest in pastoral care
  • Participants are expected to have:
    • An interest in providing meaningful visitation to those in hospitals and nursing homes.
    • A wish to promote a calm atmosphere for the patient/resident so that they feel at ease.
    • A desire to feel more confident about entering a hospital and/or nursing home room, what to say and do, as well as how to react.

Desired outcomes:

  • Build confidence for those who regularly are called to visit hospitals and nursing homes so that the student can be reassuring and calming to the patient/resident.
  • Learn how to react to various situations in hospitals and nursing homes to make the visit meaningful.
  • Be able to use the tools needed to stay in touch with patient/resident and family.

Learning experiences:

  • Week 1: Introductions and Ground Rules for Pastoral Care
  • Week 2: Personal Experiences with or in Pastoral Care
  • Week 3: Emergency and Crisis Visitation
  • Week 4: Self Reflection and Role-playing

The class is online and requires a computer with access to internet, including a webcam and microphone or headset. Participants must be able to participate in web conferencing and complete online assignments.

Required reading:

Kirkwood, Neville A. A Hospital Visitor’s Handbook (The Do’s and Don’ts of Hospital Visitation). New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2005. ISBN-13: 978-0819222008.

Nouwen, Henri J. M. The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society. New York: Doubleday Image Books, 1972. ISBN-13: 978-0385148030.

Conducting Your First Funeral

This course is designed for people seeking to serve local churches as pastoral leaders including Certified Lay Ministers, licensed local pastors, etc.

Course objectives

To gain some level of comfort with asking the right questions, preparing and delivering the funeral service.

Learning outcome

Participants will be able to research, write and preach a funeral sermon.

Required Texts

Danals, Cynthia L. Just in Time! Funeral Services. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0687335060.

The United Methodist Book of Worship. Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992. ISBN-13: 978-0687035724. Also freely available online in downloadable sections from Discipleship Ministries: Book of Worship.

Recommended Texts

Moore, James W. When Grief Breaks Your Heart. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995. ISBN 13: 978-0687007912.

Smith, Harold Ivan. ABC’s of Healthy Grieving; Light for a Dark Journey. Shawnee Mission, KS: Shawnee Mission Medical Center Foundation, 2001. ISBN-13: 978-1585970735.

Hodgson, Jada D.L. A View from the Fog: A Story of Grief and Loss, and Faith and Hope. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-1512755923.

Trauma-Informed Theology

Trauma is a reality of life. The way that our brain stores and responds to the experience determines how the body will go on. Sometimes the trauma is negatively stored in our brains and our body. How the body responds to the trauma determines how our bodies remember it.

As pastors, we have people in our pews who have experienced some kind of trauma which can adversely affect their relationship to God and their church participation. This is where trauma-informed theology can make worship spaces safe. Using trauma-informed theology in our churches requires the church to find ways through the suffering to empower the survivor to reclaim their life.

This is an eight-week course which includes reading, multiple weekly posts, two required Zoom meetings and a final paper. It is intended for Certified Lay Ministers or clergy who have had at least one year experience leading a local church.

At the end of the course, students will be able to define trauma and trauma-informed theology. Students will be comfortable with using trauma-informed theology in worship and while providing pastoral care.

The content of this course includes numerous difficult topics such as different kinds of trauma, case studies, etc. If you are recovering from trauma, you may find one or more of the topics triggering of your own trauma. Please be prepared to seek therapeutic support if the need arises. This is the student’s responsibility.