This past Saturday two successful CTW trainings were held in Florida and South Carolina.
In Florida 14 folks traveled from across the state to come and be part of the event. Excited about a new Annual Conference Reconciling group, these faithful disciples made a plan to create change in their conference, one person at a time! By dividing into action teams, they were able to create a leadership structure where no one is left alone in their tasks! Great job, Florida!!
In South Carolina 27 people gathered for training with Sue Laurie. They enjoyed a time to be together, share stories and network. It is always amazing the new people you meet at these trainings! They made concrete plans for their individual meetings and district forums and have plans to invite more folks to participate as the campaign continues. Great job, South Carolina!
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
On February 7, East and West Ohio held a very successful training led by Tiffany and Troy. Approximately 110 persons attended. I think about 80 were from West Ohio. What contributed to such a large turnout? I'll answer for West Ohio. First, we followed the plan laid out at our October training in Nasville. We called everyone personally. We did not use email. Neither did we use snail mail initially. Once a person confirmed his/her attendance, we sent a follow up letter. Three weeks before the event, a team called each person as a reminder. One week before the date a postcard was sent by Ed Hoar to everyone in East and West Ohio.
I think it helped significantly that I have been an ordained minister in West Ohio for 32 years and have served as a DS in the Dayton area. There is name recognition over all that time. After all those years relationships are developed. I noticed that the majority of persons attending from West Ohio were from SW and central Ohio. These are areas in which I have served. We were able to have the conference lay leader, two DS's, and several conference staff attend. On the other hand, we had difficulty getting positive responses from NW Ohio and SE Ohio (a "red" section of the state). I would have expected a better response from NW Ohio, particularly the Toledo area. I have developed very few contacts in that part of the state. We have leaders willing to step up to help organize in central and SW Ohio, but not in NW and SE Ohio. More work is needed.
I think that my experience in recruitment enforces the philosophy of Called to Witness. It is through developing relationships that we have the opportunity to influence people. Where we had established relationships, recruitment was pretty. Where we hadn't, it wasn't.
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