Reflection Paper

The United Methodist Church is growing and it is happening in nontraditional areas. Between 2005 and 2013 outreach ministries connected the UMC with diverse communities and created over 130,000 new disciples in His image. Outreach ministries believe in providing sustenance to who are without basic needs and envision a day without want. On this foundation, missionaries built programs and created an opportunity for growth. Through ministry, the UMC continues to provide support and generosity to those who need help while transforming missionaries’ actions into disciples across the globe. UMC apportionments equip ministries and change the world.

Earley & Gutierrez (2010) “Ministry Is…How to Serve Jesus with Passion and Confidence” (Nashville: Broadman & Holman).

There are many challenges to ministry in today’s world and having a vital and relevant ministry is even harder. Churches across all denominations face drastic declines in both attendees and financial giving. With this as the background, it is imperative that vital ministries seek out opportunities to grow and engage groups and communities that have previously been overlooked, missed or not involved for other reasons including some theological reasons. With this idea and goal in mind, this essay sets out to examine and design a process by which the Churches of Cherokee, Oklahoma can successfully connect with and minster to the new Hispanic community in Cherokee. Using the pastoral cycle method, a process will be designed in this essay to

“Restoring At-Risk Communities,” written by John M. Perkins is a collaborative work of urban professionals in ministry, providing a blueprint for working in urban communities. It provides the personal expertise of so many to help fellow missionaries and those in ministry to develop a Christian community. In today’s culture, many of our cities are falling apart due to poverty, lack of education, lack of religion, and large amounts of people leaving for the suburbs. People who are being called to minister in the downtowns, or those who are already suffering in the trenches are struggling with how to reach the community for Christ. Perkins shares his personal experience of being on the frontlines of ministry, and the appropriate strategy to reaching those communities. He writes, “The desperate problems in America’s inner cities will not be resolved without strong commitment and risky action on the part of ordinary Christians with heroic faith” (Perkins, 1995).

This paper is the final results of my internship ministry practicum II experiences reflection in my church organization work settings and training. My experiences from different areas of exposure sharpened my skills for my professional role of the Doctor of Ministry Program in the theological field of counseling and teaching. My ministry practicum consists of direct involvements with hands-on, real-life interactions under the supervision of my Supervisor, Chaplain Andrea Fletcher. This Comprehensive Written Review analyzes the full spectrum of my observation and participation in tasks from my Ministry Learning Agreement Form. The opportunity allowed me to view other leaders in ministry exercising their gift and in turns

The book renewed hope and excitement for a pastor coming to the end of transitioning a local church from one chapter into a new one. This hope is not because the process is almost complete, but because of MacDonald’s focus on people being greater than the process. This reviewer was renewed in his heart for the real people he is pastoring. Those that are still on the team and in the family have weathered the storm as well, and are ready to be lead to wherever God might take

In the book, “Breaking the Missional Code,” Ed Stetzer and David Putman lay a foundation for church leaders and pastors to break the missional code that has caused so many churches today to decline or worse, shut their doors. It is not easy to grow a church because there are many factors that have to be dealt with when dealing with people. This book does a great job to connect the dots in showing how churches can achieve their mission to connect the message of the gospel with the community at large. It is also evident that others are equally frustrated, following the exact same model for outreach but with lesser results. The authors go to great detail to show that just because a missional breakthrough occurs in one place that does not mean

Ordinary Ministry, Extraordinary Challenge, edited by Norma Cook Everist, is comprised of short stories written by women designed to explore “images of God at work in diverse communities” (Everist, 2000). Ordinary Ministry is not about women in ministry directly, but rather, it is a book of stories that just so happens to be written by women from a woman’s perspective, all while “juggling our appointments to fit in yet one more activity.”

Moschella’s text is an excellent resource for persons operating in pastoral roles who desire to understand their contexts better, discover the lived theology of their religious communities, affect real and productive change in their communities, and communicate these findings to their faith communities and broader audiences. To the an end, Moschella is not concerned with the unengaged academic task of research for the sake of knowledge production. Instead, her primary concern is to promote the use of pastoral ethnography as a method to achieve life-altering prophetic change within a community of faith. Many of the examples Moschella uses in the text exemplify this commitment. In one example, Moschella reflects on the work of one of her students, an openly gay pastor, who employed pastoral ethnographic methods to see if churches with openly gay pastors in the United Church of Christ (UCC) experienced a positive or negative change in membership in predominantly straight UCC congregations (81-82). He was able to demonstrate that church attendance increased when gay clergy became pastors of predominantly straight UCC congregation. Moschella’s text addresses two distinct audiences the pastoral care providers and academic researchers studying in the Western faith

The United Methodist Church is growing and it is happening in nontraditional areas. Between 2005 and 2013 outreach ministries connected the UMC with diverse communities and created over 130,000 new disciples in His image. Outreach ministries believe in providing sustenance to who are without basic needs and envision a day without want. On this foundation, missionaries built programs and create an opportunity for growth. Through ministry, the UMC continues to provide support and generosity to those who need help, while transforming missionaries’ actions into disciples across the globe. UMC apportionments equip ministries and change the world.

The concept of the Christian church is more than just a physical building of worship, reflection, and prayer, it a body of believers that welcomes all with outstretched arms. This welcoming ecclesiology is what Letty M. Russell describes to be a feminist interpretation of the church; the church as a sanctuary is a safe place for the marginal and the weak (Russell, 48). While the hope is that the church is a sanctuary, there are times where the church is not a safe space. “Hot-house ecclesiology,” the extended welcome to all of humanity, is used by Russell to represent a feminist ecclesiology.

When I am reaching the final stage of my journey of studying the degree on Christian Ministry in Gordon Conwell and needing to decide a topic for this graduation paper, I have reflected what I have learned from the school during the last few years, what I have experienced God in my business, my church, and in my family life, and what the calling that God has given to me. I am eventually to conclude that the Church is the passion that God has planted in my heart.

Dr. Renee Lockey is an obstetrician and gynecologist in Austin, Texas. Everyday, she drives to work and thinks to herself about how she feels blessed with the career she has and that God has given her a job that is a ministry. Renee’s work as a doctor is an example of her call to family and community. This ministry has inspired her to focus on many social justice issues. She gets to walk with women and families through joyful times and hard times of bringing life into the world. For the longest time, Renee felt as if her vision of freedom was not in line with what God says is freedom, so she re-aligned her values with God’s values. Renee shares the value of caring for God’s creation when she goes running

The reason this book is being reviewed is because this was one of our textbook for our book review. This book was for our class to understand how to write a research paper in higher standard. The Quality Research Papers is written by Nancy Vyhmeister has forty-five years of experience in teaching future pastors and professors throughout the world. She continues to have a global ministry in her retirement years, mostly teaching and writing. She also has authored several books, both in Spanish and English, including a Greek grammar for Spanish speaking students. She was editor of Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives.

Since the beginning of the semester, my writing has changed and evolved to accommodate and sustain longer essays. With longer essays, there is more room for in-depth analysis. Further analyzing a topic has led me to findings that I did not know existed. As I continue to write, I uncover addition and superior methods to approach my writing to the benefit of me and therefore, my audience. Throughout the semester, I have incorporated techniques to further my narrative throughout my writing.