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Category: MNA Online: September 2021

Considering Church Planting

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in MNA Online: October 2021, MNA Online: September 2021.

While the pandemic shut down much of our activity, it provided the opportunity to assess our work and home life. The Assessment Center is no different. In place of the regular in-person assessments that usually met five times each year, there were only two. Streamlined assessments done via Zoom covered some of the candidates that needed to be assessed right away. Now in 2021, The Assessment Center is going full steam with a strong regional emphasis, having met in Lakeland, FL, San Antonio, TX, Charlotte, NC, St. Louis, MO and planning on Boca Raton, FL in September and Atlanta, GA in November. Later this fall there will also be an Assessment in Toronto, Ontario and for the first time a Korean language Assessment. In 2022, look for the Assessment to be in some of those cities, but also in Seattle, WA and Cherry Hill, NJ. 

The Assessment Center is a two-and-a-half-day event with assessors from various ministry contexts bringing with them a wealth of experience. With the increasing variety of locations and growing interest in church planting, we are praying for 60 couples to be assessed in 2021, a 20% increase from our previous highs. If you are interested in church planting or know someone who should consider church planting contact MaryEllen Garofalo at mgarofalo@pcanet.org.

Ethnos Relief Fund

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in MNA Online: September 2021.

Just as many PCA members in communities highly-impacted by COVID were beginning to recover, outbreaks of the Delta variant are once again causing illness and job loss and undermining the financial stability of these families. Your gift to the Ethnos Relief Fund may enable a brother or sister in Christ to pull through this latest phase of the ongoing crisis, retaining stable housing. Please donate now

MNA/PCA Chaplains

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in Chaplain Ministries, MNA Online: September 2021.

YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR CHAPLAINS FINANCIALLY WITHOUT COSTING YOUR CHURCH A PENNY! 

Would you ask your church to put this in your worship bulletin or newsletter? We need your help getting the word out to all of your military and federal employee friends and family members regarding the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). MNA/PRCC Chaplain Ministries is an approved charity (CFC #38370) for federal employees to donate their payroll deduction gifts to our PRCC Chaplains. We need churches to let their federal employee members and friends know about this opportunity to help support our Chaplains. 

Sample bulletin inserts and an info letter are on our website. The Campaign runs from September 1 – December 15th, 2021.

Developing Your Church Plant – A Webinar with Ted Powers – October 18

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in MNA Online: September 2021.

Beginning public worship services is a watershed event in the life of a new church. But it is ONLY a stage. It is not a point of arrival. This training webinar is particularly geared towards those who have recently launched public worship services and helps chart a course up to, but not including, particularization. Areas of focus include a multiple stage launch process over several years, developing your ministry infrastructure and priorities, developing a vision and plan for making disciples, identifying and investing in leaders, maintaining an outreach focus and momentum, and the “Care and Feeding” of the planter and his family.

This webinar is sponsored by the Midwest Alliance but open to all; cost is $50 per person for the 90 minute webinar including q&a. Registration deadline is October 14; click here for all details and a registration link.

Free Online Training in Disability Ministry

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in MNA Online: September 2021.

September 17, 2021

If you have missed our recent live webcasts, you can watch the recordings on our website. We have featured panel discussions with people affected by disability in:

· Caring for People with Physical Disabilities

· Caring Well During a New Diagnosis

· Caring for Siblings

We have also featured expert teaching on:

· Starting a Disability Ministry

· Understanding and Addressing Anxiety in Your Kids

· Several COVID-19-related topics

Take a look at all our upcoming live and virtual training events and let us help you engage disability in your family, friends, and church!

LAMP Seminary

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in MNA Online: September 2021.

Are you preparing for ordination? LAMP Seminary offers an incredible resource to assist candidates in preparing for their Licensure or Ordination exam. This study guide contains questions, answers, outlines and Scripture proofs in the areas of Bible Content, Theology, Church History, the Sacraments and Church Government and Discipline.

*This study guide is a physical product. Please allow 3-5 days for shipping.

Click Here to Purchase Yours!

Are Conversations about “Different Cultures” Awkward?

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in Intercultural Development Inventory, MNA Online: September 2021.

Feeling a little adrift in conversations about culture and differences? Or are they even uncomfortable? Afraid of saying the wrong thing? What is cultural “intelligence”, anyway? If any of these thoughts sound familiar, but you want to navigate issues of culture difference with more awareness and confidence, we have a good first step for you. Read more.

Refugee and Immigrant Ministry

Written by chrismccrea on . Posted in MNA Online: September 2021, Refugee and Immigrant Ministry.

Many of you have inquired how you might be able to help some of the several thousand Afghan refugees who are arriving in the US, many of whom risked their own lives and those of their families to help US troops and contractors in Afghanistan over the past years. At this link you can download an timely guide to a variety of ways that you can help, collated by the Christian organization We Welcome Refugees.

World Relief, the evangelical refugee resettlement agency, provides this link to helping through their offices, with needs – particularly for short-term or long-term housing – especially acute in the Sacramento and Modesto, California areas. If there is no World Relief resettlement office in your area, other options are available here and here.

Please be patient and use the online form or email rather than calling, so that staff can respond to you when they find a rare quiet moment. If you are offering HOUSING, however, please call and leave a detailed message.