Leadership Summit fosters broad conversations

[caption id="attachment_7868" align="alignright" width="224"] Glenn Kinken presenting for the Council on Finance and Administration[/caption] Five major leadership groups of the Western North Carolina Conference met for a Leadership Summit on Saturday, November 19^th at First United Methodist Church in Gastonia, NC. The five groups included clergy and lay leaders from all eight districts that represented these major groups within the conference: Board of laity, Connectional Table, Board of Ordained Ministry, the Extended Cabinet, and the Council on Financial Administration. The gathering was designed to give each leadership group time to share their contribution to the mission and ministry of the annual conference, as well as purpose, relationship to other leadership teams, primary responsibilities, and membership.  The presentations from each group increased dialogue and communication among all the participants offering more effective and coordinated work on behalf of the whole conference. After a time of worship, Bishop Paul Leeland began the morning session sharing the basic responsibilities of a bishop, offering impressions of where he sees God’s Presence in our ministry, and where he recognizes continuing challenges within our Western North Carolina Conference.  This led to presentations from these five conference ministry teams:

Rev. Glenn Kinken- Council on Finance and Administration

Caroline Wood- Connectional Table

Sue Jones- Board of Laity

Rev. Donald Jenkins- Board of Ordained Ministry

Rev. Amy Coles- Extended Cabinet

[caption id="attachment_7869" align="alignright" width="300"] Amy Coles and David Snipes working on afternoon session[/caption] After the presentations, all were invited to reflect on 1) “What did you hear in terms of how each group contributes to the ministry of our annual conference?” and 2) “What might we offer each other in order to contribute more to the ministry of our churches and conference?” This time of collaboration and learning was concluded by affirming the importance of each committee or board working in synchronicity and timing with other conference teams to strengthen the ministry of the entire annual conference.   See the Full Album from the Leadership Summit