wfn.org | ABCUSA: Black Church Education Conference Challenges and Inspires

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 8/6/04)--Minds were
stimulated and hearts touched as more than 350 leaders gathered in Raleigh,
N.C., July 27-30 for the 2004 National Black Church Education Conference. The
biennial gathering drew pastors, Sunday school superintendents and teachers
to a week of worship and workshops on the theme "Perfecting the Connection,"
based on Ephesians 4:11-16.

Participants were equipped and connected through meaningful conversation on a
variety of topics, including children's ministry, youth ministry, technology,
drama, and strategic planning. They met nationally known Judson Press Authors
Dr. Kirk Byron Jones, Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney and Dr. Marvin A. McMickle,
among others. 

And they heard passionate preaching from denominational leaders and local
pastors, including Dr. Trinette McCray, past president of American Baptist
Churches USA; the Rev. Kenneth R. Hammond, pastor of Union Baptist Church in
Durham, N.C.; and Dr. Dumas A. Harshaw Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church,
Raleigh, N.C., who was a co-chair of the Local Arrangements Committee.

Conference-goers reported they received "substantive content to take back
home," said the Rev. Yvonne B. Carter, a National Christian Education
coordinator for National Ministries, and staff coordinator of the event. "The
conference goal was to equip congregational leaders for disciple-making
ministry and encourage their personal growth as disciples of Jesus Christ,"
she added. Carter noted that attendance was up significantly over the 250 who
attended the 2002 event in Detroit.

The spiritual formation of leaders was a theme running throughout this year's
conference. The Rev. Gregory Walker of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in
Cleveland, Ohio, led a three-day track on spiritual formation. Walker quoted
the psalmist - "Create in me a clean heart" - as the basis for spiritual
formation. And he shared a memorable formula - "ST + SD can = SF": Spiritual
transformation (the work of the Holy Spirit) plus spiritual disciplines (the
believer's work) can equal spiritual formation.

Spiritual practices are essential for the Christian educator, conferees
heard. Dr. Linda Bryan, assistant dean of Shaw University Divinity School in
Raleigh, introduced the ancient practice of praying the labyrinth. Dr. Ella
Virginia Redfield, author of The Circle of Life and pastor of New Creation
Baptist Church in Wheaton, Md., challenged participants to develop habits
that lead to wholeness by allowing "their best life to flow naturally and
endlessly from their God-centered core."

The first National Black Church Education conference was held in 1990 in
Oberlin, Ohio. Since then it has become an important gathering for African
American church leaders. The 2006 gathering will be held in Milwaukee, Wis.

This was the first conference for Mabel Bryant, a retired elementary school
teacher who is now an instructor in the Sunday school at Friendship Baptist
Church in Atlanta, Ga. "I feel like a kid on the first day of school," she
stated. "I've learned so much."

"'Perfecting the Connection' assisted participants by encouraging them and
equipping them for discipleship training in their local churches," said the
Rev. Chuck Armstrong, National Ministries' associate executive director of
Discipleship and Education Ministries. "People were built up and lives were
connected anew with Jesus Christ."

K/2004ABNS/04ABN90

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org