Teaching: Start Up! Start Over! to teach basic congregational development skills

August 27, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] Registration is open for clergy and laity of congregations seeking rejuvenation and vision to attend the Start Up! Start Over! (SUSO) seminar October 22-26 at the Four Points by Sheraton Studio City Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

A national training event, sponsored by the Office of Congregational Development and coordinated in partnership with the Episcopal Church Building Fund, SUSO provides basic congregational development skills for congregations in decline who are seeking a new direction, those who have hit a growth plateau which need new energy, and thriving congregations ready for their next step. Participants will learn practical, goal-oriented skills to rediscover the optimistic, mission-oriented spirit that marks healthy thriving congregations. Clergy and laity teams are encouraged. 

The Rev. Charles N. Fulton III, director of Congregational Development and president of the Episcopal Church Building Fund will lead a seminar staff of experienced practitioners of church growth who have started new churches and led congregational turn-arounds.

Agenda topics include:

•           The basic principles of congregational development and church life cycle
•           Interpreting your congregational demographics to program towards growth
•           Decision making and meeting management skills
•           Marketing and conducting a campaign to invite new members
•           Planning church space that is within your budget, appropriate for your future
•           New member incorporation -- how visitors become involved members of a congregation
•           Leading in changing times
•           The use of multi-media in congregation life and worship
•           Making your site and buildings inviting to the visitor
•           Understanding generational differences and reaching the un-churched members of the electronic culture

The cost, which includes tuition, housing, and 10 meals, is $775 single, $650 (each) double, $395 commuter. (Note: This seminar regularly fills to capacity months before the registration deadline. Call to verify availability.)

To register visit: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/startup.htm. For more information call or email Sally O'Brien at 800-334-7626 ext. 6003/sobrien@episcopalchurch.org.

Future SUSO seminar dates: March 30-April 4, 2008 in Vancouver, Canada, and May 19-23, 2008 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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