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Nurture your new ideas for ministry

Posted on by James Deaton
Churches supporting local school library
The Seen Project connects churches with school libraries in their communities. Church volunteers deliver packages of books with positive representations of children with special needs and disabilities. Lowell United Methodist Church participated by donating books to Bushnell Elementary School in Lowell. The Seen Project was started by Matt Witkowski, director of the Community Ministries Program at Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids. He was part of the pilot cohort for the Michigan Conference’s Seed to Harvest ministry incubation program and is grateful for how it supported his dream. “The Seed to Harvest experience taught me how to take something I am passionate about and start something new,” Witkowski says.

Find peer support from others by joining the next cohort of the Michigan Conference’s Seed to Harvest ministry incubation program in January.

What is your dream of meeting an unmet need in your community? What is the seed of an idea you have for launching a new ministry? What is the act of love you desperately want to share?

Often, our dreams for new ministry or reviving an existing ministry seem out of reach. We often feel like we don’t know what to do. We wonder about our capacity in these post-COVID times. But don’t let your dreams just be dreams. Take a step of faith and nurture those dreams.

New CD packaging
The Holy Broken Heart, released in October 2022, was a recording project incubated by Rev. Sari Brown. Sari was part of one of the first Seed to Harvest cohorts in the Michigan Conference. “The main thing Seed to Harvest did was create a structure for me to refine my vision and grow excitement around it,” says Brown. “It also helped me gain confidence in my vision.” She is grateful for this program and its impact. “The Holy Broken Heart is a ministry made possible by Seed to Harvest and the United Methodist Connection,” she says. “It promotes healing and spiritual growth through music.” ~ photo courtesy Sari Brown Music/Facebook

The Michigan Conference’s Seed to Harvest ministry incubator program is designed to support individuals and teams from local congregations that have a seed of an idea to address a need in their community. Thanks to this program, several new ministry ideas have sprouted and grown here in Michigan. (Click here to learn about some of these new ministries.)

The next Seed to Harvest cohort is forming and will begin in January 2024. Click here to register. Lisa Batten, a Connectional Ministry Staff member, will facilitate it. This small group will meet monthly via Zoom, January through November (no July meeting), for training and peer support around preparing to launch a new ministry. There will be two in-person meetings. The cohort will be able to hear from experienced incubators about the joys and challenges of launching something new.

The exact meeting day and time are flexible and will be determined based on the availability of those who register.

The registration fee is $299, but scholarships are available for those who need financial assistance. Please get in touch with Lisa Batten at [email protected] for scholarship information.

The Michigan Conference Seed to Harvest ministry incubation program started in 2020, based on Ministry Incubators’ techniques for hatching new ideas. This program supports dreams for new and revitalized ministry. Grounded in a theology that God is the true incubator and innovator, the program centers on human needs, drawing from what we already know about ourselves and our communities to bring dreams of ministry into reality.

Lisa Batten, Michigan Conference staff member, serves as Seed to Harvest coach and consultant to dreamers and imagineers across the conference.

Past cohort members share their experience of Seed to Harvest ministry incubation. Rev. Cora Glass says, “Ministry incubation helped me give focused time and attention to a ministry dream I’d carried for many years. My cohort, along with time, mentoring, and coaching, helped me launch my LLC and gave me tools to proceed with confidence.”

Rev. Paul Reissmann explains, “Ministry incubation gave me the courage and resources to imagine what God has placed on my heart for ministry. It’s reinvigorated a sense of creativity in ministry at a time when hope and dread were all too tempting.”

Rev. Jenaba Waggy notes, “Seed to Harvest helped me put plans to hopes, giving timeliness and concrete accountability measures to something I thought no one else would take seriously.”

Last Updated on December 19, 2023

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The Michigan Conference