Upcoming Events & News

Saturday, August 6th 

9:30am to 5:30pm at the TABCOM Office

189 Prescott St., Groton, MA 01450

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ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED     

A Workshop on Clergy Ethics & Healthy Boundaries for Clergy and Candidates for Ministry    

 Workshop led by Executive Minister, Rev. Dr. Mary Miller, the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts    

This workshop meets the guidelines for Professional Ethics required by TABCOM for Ordination and Ministerial Standing.   

Healthy boundaries are a gift. They are helpful guidelines that give shape to our relationships. Life-enriching relationships, whether with our spouse, family, friends, colleagues or parishioners, require healthy boundaries.  This workshop explores the meaning and practice of healthy boundaries in the context of ministry. It will also identify the signs, dangers, and preventions of boundary violations.   

Topics will include: Power and Vulnerability, Dating, Friendships, Dual Relationships, Gifts, The Pulpit, Transference, Hugging and Touch, Intimacy, Personal and Professional Health (Self-Care, Red Flags), and Social Media.    

The workshop fee of $50 covers the cost of the program and workbook.  To complete the class and receive CEUs or to meet the standards for Ordination and Standing, you will need to submit a 1-page reflection after attending the workshop.  

A "Healthy Boundaries" workshop is suggested for ALL persons in ministry; a "refresher" every fives years is also recommended.

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Conference of Baptist Ministers in Massachusetts and the Center for Career Development and Ministry.   

Please note: we are planning this as an in-person event. If a sharp increase in COVID cases occurs, we will notify you of other plans/options. Masks are optional.

To register, contact Sylvia Lake at the Center for Career Development & Ministry. Email Sylvia at info@ccdmin,org or call (603) 943-7611.  Give her your name, address, phone, email, and specify any special dietary needs you require.  

You may pay by credit card over the phone. CBMM members may attend for free.  If you prefer to pay by check, please make the $50 check payable to the “Center for Career Development and Ministry.”

June 23rd, 2022

11:00am EST

No registration required

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As we continue to find our way during difficult times, it's important to explore our feelings. Of one thing we can be sure, many of us are grieving. We are grieving the deaths of beloved family, church members, friends and strangers. We are grieving losses of safety, personal freedoms, economic stability, trust, and so much more. Yet, even when struggling, we show up, preaching a Word of hope and life. There are conversations we need to have.

To help you take care of yourselves, CBMM has scheduled monthly conversations for clergy and chaplains on Zoom to share your stories, lament, rejoice, grieve and talk about COVID-19, systemic racism and whatever else is on your minds and hearts.

Rev. Maggie Lewis and Rev. Will Ashley will facilitate monthly dialogues to give you an opportunity to take a breath and acquire additional tools for coping over the long haul.

Join us on Thursday, June 23rd at 11 a.m. No need to register, whosoever will, please come.
 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86374572942?pwd=LzdoQ1lvU2RFYnNrV0g2UVJXYTdpQT09  

Meeting ID: 863 7457 2942 

Passcode: CBMM

Here are up-coming virtual journeys sponsored by the Short-Term Mission team:

Mission Express

• Ministry in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region with SAT-7 (https://www.sat7usa.org/) is scheduled for February 1, 2 & 3, 2022. Have you ever wondered how God’s good news is shared in the MENA region?Come on this 3-Day virtual Mission Express with the Short-Term Mission desk and the Europe & Middle East & Liberia desk and be enlightened by how the use of satellites has met many needs. These three days hosted by SAT-7 will open hearts and eyes. We will travel to several countries in the MENA region without packing any bags. Come and meet God in new ways. Last day to register is January 20, 2022. https://portal.internationalministries.org/global-service-opportunities/record/a073m00000p9ZA2AAM
• Ministry in Israel/Palestine hosted by the Association of Baptist Churches will shed light on Arab Christians spreading God’s good news in Cana, Galilee and other communities. Join us virtually on this unique 3-Day virtual Mission Express scheduled for February 17, 18 & 19, 2022 with an open heart, and learn how to be better peacemakers from siblings in Christ who are themselves considered to be the marginalized of the marginalized in their own country. Follow this link to sign-up for this virtual short-term mission experience to Israel/Palestine https://portal.internationalministries.org/global-service-opportunities/record/a073m00000lbtMUAAY Last day to register is February 11, 2022 at Noon(EST)

For more information about any of these up-coming journeys, please contact the Short-Term Mission team at volunteers@internationalministries.org

For more information about virtual short-term missions, see this article by our colleague Rev. Sandra Dorsainvil. https://missionexus.org/the-virtual-journeys/ 

Two half days,

Wednesday, January 19th & Wednesday, January 26th

via Zoom 

1:00pm - 3:30pm EST both days

Presented by The Center for Career Development & Ministry 

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Are you feeling unprepared for the beginning of 2022? Are you even more exhausted than you were a few months ago? Are you facing the push-pull of people within your congregation who want different things?  

This two-part mini-retreat will give you time to reflect on what’s going on around you and inside you, and what you want for the next 90 days. And you’ll have the chance to think about what you want to do as you begin 2022, with all you know and don’t know about what you will face.

It’s an opportunity for you to think through how you want to start this year--not simply what others want you to do. And it’s a chance to take the time to plan your work for the next 90 days. Why 90 days? Focusing on just three months really helps. It’s a way to think about “what’s next.” There’s hard work ahead, but thinking about the whole year in a block can make you freeze up. You’ll be set up to work with more thoughtfulness and intention and less overwhelm through these next few months.

• Get positive input from others. 
• Clarify where you are and what you need to do next (and what you need NOT do). 
• Discern what you want most now (including rest) and how to get it --then make a plan that works for you. 
• Feel more spacious each and every day.

Will you do everything you plan for the next 90 days? Of course not. But when these next three months are behind you, you are more likely to be satisfied with how you’ve spent them, not only professionally but also personally.

Here’s what one past participant said: 

“Thank you for the wonderful two-part group session you recently led. It was grounding for me, in a ‘Just do the next thing’ sense. My anxious wiring overloads and gets lost gazing over the whole map rather than watching for the next mile marker. You helped me with that. Thank you for your good leadership and coaching work with the group. The time with you and the others empowered me by redirecting my attention from the cosmic level to the ground level. Thank you, thank you.”  

-- Rev. Zachary Bay, First Baptist Church, Middlesboro, Kentucky  

Margaret Marcuson, Facilitator

Margaret offers a way pastors can bring their best to their ministry without giving it all away, so they can have a greater impact and find more satisfaction. She works with church leaders nationally across denominations as a teacher and coach. Margaret is the author of Leaders who Last: Sustaining Yourself and Your Ministry and Money and Your Ministry: Balance the Books While Keeping Your Balance. An ABC minister, Margaret was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gardner, Massachusetts, for 13 years.  

Cost: There is no cost to participate but spaces are limited.

To register, please email CCDM at info@ccdmin.org or call 603.943.7611