District 2 Parish Leadership Development Seminar, January 30th, St. Philip Church in Nashua, NH

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!  I pray you are well.  I write to you on behalf of His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios to remind you of the upcoming District 2 Parish Leadership Development Seminar, which will be held on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - St. Philip Church in Nashua, NH beginning at 6:30 pm.  

Mr. Theo Nikolakis, Director of Information Technologies for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, will be the keynote speaker addressing the topic of Developing Emerging Leaders - Transforming Parish Leadership.  

Please personally invite all leaders in your parish to attend - ALL Parish Council and Philoptochos members, youth workers, Sunday school teachers, etc.  
The evening will begin with a light dinner, hosted by St. Philip Parish family. Following the keynote address there will be small group breakout discussions.  Please review the attached "Schedule and Break Out Workshops" document so that the participants from your Parish may select the small group discussion in which they would like to participate.  Please ensure that members from your Parish split up and attend all four groups, so that they may bring the ideas discussed back to your Community.

MOST ESPECIALLY, PLEASE INVITE AND BRING WITH YOU AS MANY YOUNG ADULTS AS YOU CAN!  
THIS EVENING IS GEARED TOWARDS EMPOWERING AND EQUIPPING YOUNG ADULTS TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH......
AND IN LEADERSHIP!!

A recently released Pew Study showed that America is undergoing a religious shift.  20% of Americans have no religion, with the vast majority of those not even looking for religion.  A growing number of young adults are likewise unaffiliated with any religion.  As Greek Orthodox Christians, nurturing our youth and mentoring our young adults in parish leadership, and helping them balance their faith and life must become a priority of every parish. In this seminar, we will look at the current model of parish leadership and communications. We will focus on empowering current and future parish leaders by modernizing existing paradigms and creating new ones for parish planning, communication, and growing ministries.  Readily available tools and resources will be put into a practical context so that attendees leave with practical knowledge and tangible resources that they can begin using and adopting within their local communities.

Please click on the link below to read the full text of the statistical study on ‘No Religion’ on the Rise: 19.6% Have No Religious Affiliation - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:

http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx#.UIvLFxSgJt0.email


We ask that you personally invite ALL the current and potential future Ministry Leaders AND ALL YOUNG ADULTS of your Community to join us on this evening which will be most beneficial in supporting and advancing your efforts in your local parish ministries. 

PLEASE respond to this email with the number of participants from your parish no later than Monday, January 28th.

We look forward to being together on  Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - St. Philip Church in Nashua, NH beginning at 6.30 pm.

With love in the Lord,
Father Ted