“It was a revelation!” “I am converted!” In his letter to us this month, Philip Knutson, our missionary to Africa describes the excitement of participants in a Christian Education workshop, both lay and clergy to hearing that we are all missionaries by virtue of baptism.
It’s a message similar to the one being delivered in a new program of our Synod: Turnaround Synod Initiative.
Bishop Wayne N. Miller has been out in the Synod, having open conversations about the program. He conducted two such conversations in October.
Here is how the Synod web site describes the goal of the TSI program:
“The Goal
“The goal of the Turnaround Synod Initiative is that 50% of the congregations in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod that are currently experiencing decline will be seeing an upward trend in worship attendance by mid-2013. This means that we will move from having two of every three congregations declining to two of three growing in average worship attendance...
Imagine: what might happen if each of the synod’s congregations saw itself as a mission outpost...
Imagine: if all of us encouraged each other to share our faith with friends and neighbors and to invite them to come and see what a congregation of Christians is all about...
Imagine: if we shared—congregation-to-congregation – our triumphs and disasters, supporting each other and celebrating together...
Imagine: a climate of hopeful expectation throughout the synod as we watch to see what life-changing thing God might do next.
The Turnaround Synod Initiative is designed to help us get there – together.”
To read more about The Turnaround Synod Initiative, go to the Synod’s new web site:
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