From Your Synod Executive

Our overarching theme is “In our synod, we’ll try anything to equip and support leaders who attend to God’s creative, emerging future.”  People most invested in our ministry together will often quote with pride the “we’ll try anything” part of this statement.  In this column, though, I want to tell you about some new initiatives we’re taking on this year to equip and support leaders:  an in-person leadership conference, a racial justice speaker series, and a Christian nationalism workshop series.

Our first Pastoral Leadership Conference will be held July 7-9 at Muskingum University in New Concord Ohio, one of our three Presbyterian-related colleges in the Synod.  Besides portions of our annual assembly, this will be the first in-person equipping gathering we have held since before COVID.  It will serve Commissioned Ruling Elders (CREs) and Teaching Elders from throughout the Synod and will have workshops on topics like followership, finance and resources, racial justice, and emotional intelligence. 

I’m thankful to Tim Pollock, our CRE Coordinator, for his leadership and initiative in partnering with the Organizational Leadership Graduate Program at Muskingum.  Details will be posted on our website in March but in the meantime feel free to contact Tim at tim@synodofthecovenant.org.

The Racial Justice speaker series by zoom will kick off on April 23^rd at 10:00 am with a presentation by Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz, the Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship at McCormack Theological Seminary.  Dr. Valle-Ruiz’s presentation is called “The Intersection of Art, Gender, and Racial Justice.”  She is a friend of the synod, having already offered one of our preaching workshops and a guest homileticians video for participants in the Cultivating the Gift of Preaching Initiative.  You can register here:  Meeting Registration - Zoom. 

Future speakers include Rev. Alexandra Zareth of Mujeres en Victoria (“The Effects of Historic Generational Trauma due to Systemic Racim”), Rev. Alonzo Johnson of the PC(USA) (“Self Development of People and the Intersection of Racial Justice”), and Rev. Dr. William Yoo of Columbia Seminary (“What Kind of Christianity?  A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racim in the Presbyterian Church”).  Full details will be on the website in early March.  We can thank Associate Executive Ruth Aimée Belonni-Rosario for this series; you can contact her at ruthaimee@synodofthecovenant.org.

The zoom Christian Nationalism series kicked off with a bang in February with a presentation by Yale Divinity School’s Rev. Dr. Tony Lin: “Faithfulness in the Face of Christian Nationalism.”  It was the most highly-registered leadership-equipping event we have had in more than three years. You can watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEz0WoA-8c4&t

The next workshop will be led by Dr. Miranda Cruz of Indiana Wesleyan University on April 30^th at 10:00 am; it’s entitled “Christian Nationalism:  Beyond the Buzzwords” and you can register here https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/s_YjhTr2T4OPPycKiOPb0w .  Future workshops will be offered by Dr. David Congdon of the University of Kansas (“Understanding the Theology of Christian Nationalism”), Dr. Heath Carter of Princeton Seminary (“Preaching in the Midst of Christian Nationalism”), and Pastor Vonnetta West of the King Center (“Removing Christian Nationalism in our Culture and in Ourselves”).  Again, more details will be on the website in early March.

These new initiatives are in addition to the Cultivating the Gift of Preaching Initiative and our regular preaching workshops and boundaries trainings.  They’re also in addition to the work we’ll be adding this year in peacemaking and in AI and ministry that I talked about last month (https://www.synodofthecovenant.org/post/from-your-synod-executive-31). We are still looking for folks to contribute toward progress in those two areas; please let me know if you are interested in joining the fun! 

I think there’s a risk of having too much programming in 2026, but I think it’s better to offer too much than too little.  Besides, as you may have heard, “In our synod, we’ll try anything…”!

Grateful to be your partner in ministry,

Rev. Charles B Hardwick, PhD  

Executive    

chip@synodofthecovenant.org   

309-530-4578