Small Church Vestry Retreat at Beckwith- February 17th – 19th 2012

• Retreat begins with Registration Friday 4:00pm and ends after Lunch on Sunday.
• Conference schedule details will be sent out by Feb 1, 2012

Building strong leadership is vital for any church, and, in small communities, church leaders also function as community leaders.  This retreat is to assist small church vestries and leadership with training in areas such as spirituality for leadership, church growth, family systems, mission, evangelism, financial management, visioning, strategic planning, conflict management, the nurture and care of clergy, and more.

Our goal for the weekend is to better equip vestries and small church leadership to lead the church in ways more suited to the mission of the church.   The leadership of the small church faces the same need for training that the leadership of large churches do, but with fewer resources with which to meet that need.  Outside facilitators can offer such training with maximum effectiveness.

This weekend will also allow time for the vestry members to get to know one another, develop trust, and learn to function as a team.  There will be opportunities to network with other churches and to explore what can be accomplished together.   Our Course Facilitator will be the Rev. Dr. Margaret Shepard, whose D. Min. is in Congregational Development.  She has published Called to Serve in Community: Transforming Parish Vitality Through Intentionality and Practice. As a graduate of Shalem Institute’s Clergy Life and Leadership, Going Deeper program, and the Clergy Leadership Project of Trinity Wall Street, she has led retreats in North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida in both spiritual growth and congregational development.

Please download the registration form, and send the completed form to Beckwith with your deposit.  Preference will be given to small churches and to those sending entire vestry teams + clergy (unless in the search process.)  Larger churches and incomplete teams will be accepted as space is available.  Deposits will be returned if your church team is not accepted;  otherwise they are non-refundable.

Coordinator – The Rev. Martha Kreamer
Chaplain –The Rev. Sandra Mayer