4 locations for finding new H.O.P.E.
Workshops offering H.O.P.E. (for a Changing Church) will be available at four regional locations in February.
The acronym for these small-church events stands for “Hospitality, Offering Christ, Purpose, and Engagement,” according to Derrek Belase, Conference director of discipleship.
The workshops focus on churches with up to 80 members, but attendance is open to all.
- Feb. 22, 5-9 p.m., Pawhuska
- Feb. 23, 5-9 p.m., Fairview at Slapout
- Feb. 25, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Coalgate
- Feb. 26, 3-7 p.m., Anadarko-First
Keynote speaker will be Jodi Cataldo, director of Laity in Leadership for the denomination’s Discipleship Ministries. She previously was on the Dakotas Conference staff, working in Congregational Development, Safe and Sacred Spaces, and other areas.
“The core process of every local congregation is to offer H.O.P.E. to the community it serves,” Rev. Belase said. “Paragraph 122 of the Book of Discipline offers a model for a discipleship system in local congregations that includes proclaiming, seeking, welcoming, leading persons to commit their lives to God, nurturing persons in Christian living, and sending persons into the world to live lovingly and justly as servants of Christ.”
Belase added, “This is not a new program, but rather a systems approach to discipleship.”
Registration is by church. Cost is $10 per person, per event, and includes meal, handouts, and the book “Charting a Course for Discipleship.”
To register and pay online go to www.okumc.org/hope. You also can send checks to H.O.P.E., 1501 NW 24th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73106-3635. (Make checks out to Annual Conference Council.)
For questions about registration, call Megan DeCastro, 405-530-2199, or email her at mdecastro@okumc.org.
Sponsors of the event are the Conference’s Discipleship Ministry Team and Commission on Rural/Small Membership Churches and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.