Lay Servant Academy

Basic Course (10-hour course)

Instructor: Details coming soon!

Course Description: This course is the foundation for all other Learning and Leading courses. In this course you are encouraged to discover and employ personal spiritual gifts as God intended. Participants are invited to consider the importance of exercising servant leadership, developing future leaders, remaining rooted in consistent spiritual practices, and being part of a group that holds members accountable in their discipleship. This course offers guidelines for best practices as a church leaders and in mission and ministry in the community and in daily life.

Required Reading: Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course: Lay Servant Ministries Basic Course Participant’s Book – Upper Room Books
*This course provides Certification credit and renewal credit for Certified Lay Servants and Certified Lay Speakers.
Note: 2 hours of class time prior to class have been spent on reading the required materials for class! *This applies only to those who are working towards Lay Servant Certifications or CEU’s.

Instructors: Rev. Renee Delgado and Rhonda Tucker

Course Description: This course aims to help ministry leaders shape the culture of their children and youth ministry towards a ministry that encompasses the whole family unit. We will spend time exploring how to be in ministry with parents and guardians, seeking to empower and equip them for raising young disciples because parents and guardians have the most influence over their children’s faith formation.

Recommended Reading: “It Takes a Church to Raise a Parent” by Rachel Turner – https://a.co/d/7pJEWbK

*This course provides Certification credit and renewal credit for Certified Lay
Servants and Certified Lay Speakers. In addition, this course qualifies for CLM specialization.
Note: 2 hours of class time prior to class should be spent on reading the
required materials for the class! *This applies only to those who are
working towards Lay Servant Certifications or CEU’s.

10-hour course

Instructors:  Details coming soon!

Course Description: This course helps participants understand spiritual gifts and how the church can use them to fulfill its mission and ministry. Participants will also learn what it means to be a spiritual leader and will be equipped to lead others in exploring and using their spiritual gifts.

Required Reading:  “For the Common Good” by Christine Harman (Participant’s Book) view listing: https://store.upperroom.org/product/for-the-common-good
*This course provides Certification credit and renewal credit for Certified Lay Servants and Certified Lay Speakers.
Note: 2 hours of class time prior to class have been spent on reading the required materials for class! *This applies only to those who are working towards Lay Servant Certifications or CEU’s.

(10-hour course)

Instructor: Details coming soon!

Course Description: This course looks at the social principles of the United
Methodist Church. With so much change recently, this course will assist
participants in understanding what has been changed and how!

Required Reading: Justice in Everyday Life: A Look at the Social
Principles of The United Methodist Church by Neal Christie
https://a.co/d/55C458d
Updated Social Principles: https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/124
*This course provides Certification credit and renewal credit for Certified Lay
Servants and Certified Lay Speakers.
Note: 2 hours of class time prior to class should be spent on reading the
required materials for the class! *This applies only to those who are
working towards Lay Servant Certifications or CEU’s

(2-hour course) Friday 7:00-9:00PM
Course Instructors: Joanna Dietz and Jenn O’ Brien

Course Description: This 2-hour orientation is designed to provide the
support structure required during CLM training for those who have begun
the training as well as for those who are considering the training. We will
spend time learning expectations of becoming a CLM while creating a
network of peers who are also moving toward certification. This cohort will
continue to support one another throughout the educational process (1-4
years) while learning how CLMs are functioning in the Virginia Conference.

Suggested Reading: Roots and Routes by Randy Litchfield & Part Time is
Plenty by G. Jeffrey MacDonald.
This course qualifies as one of the courses toward CLM specialization in
Children’s Faith Formation.

(10-hour course)

Instructors: Rev Nathan Decker and Richard Speirs

Course Description: This course will challenge you and offer you creative ways to plan and lead worship.  Since the early 2000s worship has been changing yet in some cases remaining very traditional.  Some large churches host 3 services all in different formats. Some churches have lost their organist/pianist and must rely on recorded music.  Time is here to look at a variety of worship options.  Yes, we will use the traditional book and at the same time think outside the normal.

Required Reading: Worshiping with United Methodists (REVISED) by Hoyt
Hickman—-Participant’s Book • AB526 • 978-0-687-33526-8 • $11.99
(Kindle, $9.99) & Think Like a Filmmaker: Sensory-Rich Worship Design
for Unforgettable Messages. https://a.co/d/eRUA377

*This course provides Certification credit and renewal credit for Certified Lay
Servants and Certified Lay Speakers.
Note: 2 hours of class time prior to class should be spent on reading the
required materials for the class! *This applies only to those who are working
towards Lay Servant Certifications or CEU’s

(United Methodist Polity) (10 Hour Course)

Course Instructor: Martha Stokes, Virginia Conference Lay Leader

Course Description: Why does The United Methodist Church do things the
way it does? And what does any of this have to do with trying to be a
movement and a people that embody the Kingdom of God? Polity is defined as
the way the church orders itself to carry out its mission in the world. This
course will help participants understand our UMC polity and organization as
the interrelationship of our beliefs, mission and practice as we face the
challenges of the future.

Required Reading: The Method of our Mission by Laceye Warner.
https://bookstore.upperroom.org/Products/AB717/the-method-of-our-mi
ssion.aspx

NOTE: Participants will also need access to a Book of Discipline, hard copy or
online version. *This course provides Certification credit and renewal credit for Certified Lay Servants and Certified Lay Speakers.
Note: A minimum of 2 hours of class time prior to class should be spent on reading the required materials for the class! Ideally, the entire text will be read prior to the course.*This applies only to those who are working towards Lay Servant Certifications or CEU’s