In Mission Together Learning Conference
First United Methodist Church Corpus Christi, TX
April 16, 2016 

Sponsored by: 

First United Methodist Church Corpus Christi, TX
Rio Texas Conference
and
Global Ministries 

The conference will focus on poverty, homelessness, and the In Mission Together (IMT) 50/50 partnership model. It features national and local speakers leading learning conference participants in IMT conversations.This event will enhance your local church mission team projects and outreach ministries.

Contact Leenette Wilke, ruthleenette@yahoo.com or 501 749-3689, for more details.

Register now for the promotional rate of $49. Discounted registration is available to members of First UMC Corpus Christ and for students interested in the conference. 

What is In Mission Together? 

The traditional approach to mission is often needs-based, short-term relief, but this new vision of partnership embraces asset-based, long-term development.  Partners commit to one another through an In Mission Together (IMT) 50/50 Partnership Covenant. It’s a sacred covenant to participate equally, 50/50, as the body of Christ by utilizing everyone’s skills and resources. A 50/50 framework prevents dependency and fosters self-sufficiency. These principles address systemic issues rather than treating symptoms.

In Mission Together (IMT) is GLOCAL (both global and local) and equips you with core values that are cross-culturally appropriate for variety of contexts whether in the US or around the world.  We have a team of IMT Partnership Coordinators ready to assist you with training and resources to develop a 50/50 partnership within your community or another country.

One example of how the 50/50 covenant is changing hearts and minds is through our collaboration with church leaders across the world to plant new communities of faith. These Mission Initiatives are unique in many ways, but mostly because they are places where The United Methodist Church is new to the population. You can partner with a church in a Mission Initiative country through the IMT Partnership Program. 

Featured Speakers 

Rev. Patrick Friday 

Patrick is the Director of In Mission Together (IMT) for Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. IMT is a global partnership network which equips conferences, districts, churches and individuals for long-termpartnerships with long-term impact. He leads a team of partnership coordinators who facilitate missionalengagement within the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. They provide training in bestpractices for mobilization, multiplication and movement strategies.

He developed the 50/50 PartnershipCovenant for long-term, asset-based development which is based on five core values: church planting,spiritual formation, community development, preventing dependency through self-sufficiency andcommunication through social networking.

Rev. Dr. Randy Russ

Good intentions often lead to inadvertant hurts, or worse, in mission fields. Dr. Randy Russ will explore "Helping without Hurting" based on both his personal experience globally, working with coffee farmers in Rwanda, and locally, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and his work with the Chalmer's Center for Economic Development at Convenant College.  Discover how a path forward can be found not by providing resources to the poor and disenfranchised, but by walking with them, humbly, in partnership. 

Ms. Leigh Delashaw

Leigh is a dedicated team member of the In Mission Together Partnership Program for Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.  She is a gifted speaker, 50/50 facilitator and missional strategist.  Leigh is a COPE certified poverty simulation facilitator. In addition to her passion for partnering with the poor, she has worked with several mission based initiatives locally and globally. The integration of missional engagement with children’s ministry has been her passion for over 20 years.

Bishop Elias Galvan

 He attended the School of Theology at Claremont where he obtained a Rel. D.
He became a probationary member of the Southern California-Arizona Conference, and later was received into full membership and ordained an elder. He has served the following appointments: Asbury United Methodist Church as Associate Pastor; Pastor of City Terrace United Methodist Church and the Church of All Nations in Los Angeles; Director of Ethnic Planning and Strategy; District Superintendent, Santa Barbara District, with two years as Dean of the Cabinet; Conference Council Director. In 1984, he was elected to the episcopacy and was assigned to the newly-created Phoenix Area, Desert Southwest Conference.

 He has been very active in the Hispanic caucus of the former Pacific and Southwest Annual Conference and the MARCHA, the national Hispanic caucus, of which he was the first chairperson of the coordinating committee; appointed by the Council of Bishops to Chair the Committee to Develop a National Plan for Hispanic Ministries for the 1989-1992 quadrennium.

Ms. Patty Clark

Making a difference in people’s lives started in her role as Legal Administrator for a local law firm.  Her greatest joy was in coaching the staff and empowering them in their lives.  A whole new world opened for Patty when she accepted the offer to become the first Executive Director for Mission of Mercy in June 2007 and in 2012 to become CEO of Corpus Christi Metro Ministries.  Some might ask Patty how you move from the world of legal administration to the world of non-profit.  Patty would reply “Grace”.Patty is passionate and grateful for the opportunity to be part of Metro Ministries, an organization that allows her to see the holistic impact that feeding, sheltering and transforming lives has on every neighbor we serve, and the community in which we all live.

Rev. Greg Hackett

Rev Greg Hackett is currently in his eighth year as Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church, Corpus Christi, Texas. Rev Hackett received degrees from Morningside College (BA), and Perkins School of Theology (MDiv), graduating with honors at both schools, and selected at Perkins as recipient of the B’nai B’rith award for Social Ethics.  Rev Hackett has served Methodist Churches in Iowa, Oklahoma, and in the United Kingdom.  He has served Texas pastorates in Victoria, Harlingen, Gonzales, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi.
His commitment to IMT has its genesis in the idea of shared mission - -of truly being in partnership with the receiving country/church, as an advocate, support, and assistant in the local church achieving its goal of establishing thriving Christian community all over the world.  With Honduras in particular, First Church is committed to making a difference “there” with the goal that the effects of our support will also be felt “here”.

Discovering the Other

What is God's mission? Discovering the other explains that God's mission is to form communities that reflect and embody the life of the Trinity. The book serves as an introduction to two tools that community builders have found helpful: appreciative inquiry and asset mapping. These tools help congregations see that all of life is saturated by the sacred and give them energy to begin living as if it were so. Instead of asking, 'What's wrong?' appreciative inquiry asks, 'What's right?' Asset mapping asks, 'What resources do you have personally that we could bring to our future together?' This book explores both of these concepts in depth and is a valuable resource for all congregations. 

Amazon.com

When Helping Hurts

When Helping Hurts is a study of poverty alleviation and ministry to those in need. Emphasizing  the poverty of both heart and society, it definces poverty as more than a simply a lack of financial  or material resources and that it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve the  problem of poverty.While this book exposes past and current development efforts that churches have engaged in which unintentionally undermine the people they're trying to help, its central point is to provide proven strategies that challenge Christians to help the poor empower themselves.

 Amazon.com

The Class Meeting

The Class Meeting: Reclaiming a Forgotten (and Essential) Small Group Experience is a guide to the theory of the Wesley class meeting, an essential element of truly Wesleyan  spirituality. This book aids in the development of a deeper discipleship. The class meeting is  made workable without losing its essential  dynmic as a gospel-based accountable community.  Author Kevin Watson has resurrected the class meeting and given it new meaning, showing its  relevance for the church today and how it may be a perfect means for church renewal.

 Amazon.com

Learn more about Global Ministries Mission Initiatives

Get Involved - Global Ministries Mission Initiatives 
In Mission Together on Facebook