Registration has opened for the annual Mission Formation Program to be held in four online sessions, Monday-Thursday, May 24-27. The online format that was so successful in 2020 is being offered again this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Global Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) has announced.
“We are so pleased to offer this program online again this year, in order to make it accessible to as many people as possible,” said the Rev. Holly Hartman. “We’re looking forward to another year of learning, formation, and networking with people passionate to be more involved in God’s global mission.”
Registration for the program is accessible here. The program dates and times via the Zoom platform are: Monday, May 24, 7-9 p.m.; Tuesday, May 25, 10 a.m.-12 noon; Wednesday, May 26; 12 noon-2pm; and Thursday, May 27, 7-9 p.m. The varied times are designed to accommodate individual preferences and styles – some people learn best in the morning, others in the evening, and so on.
Held by GEMN for over 20 years, the Mission Formation Program gives people involved in parish and diocesan global mission initiatives the opportunity to explore biblical foundations, mission theology and history, cultural and inter-religious sensitivity, discernment, short-term and long-term mission standards, companionship in mission, mission team and project development, leadership styles and group process.
Ordinarily offered in conjunction with the annual Global Mission Conference, which this year was held online on Creation Care, April 22-24, the Mission Formation Program is a two-year process in which participants carry out a project between the first and second years. A number of participants are returning from 2020, and registration is open for new first-year participants.
Led by Coordinator Holly Hartman, global mission coordinator in the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Mission Formation Team that will conduct the 2020 program includes Dr. Martha Alexander, long active in the global outreach of the Diocese of North Carolina; the Rev. Jean Beniste, a former missionary from Haiti to the Dominican Republic and now rector of Christ Church, Waukegan, Illinois; the Rev. Jeffrey Bower, chair of the global mission commission in the Diocese of Indianapolis and associate rector of St. Paul’s Church, Indianapolis; and the Rev. Titus Presler, Th.D., missiologist, president of GEMN and a former missionary in Zimbabwe and Pakistan.