Hillary Watson Affirmed for Ordination

Lombard, IL – On Tuesday, January 23 the Church Life Team (CLT) of Illinois Mennonite Conference (IMC) affirmed Hillary Watson, associate pastor at Lombard Mennonite Church, for the credential of ordination. Hillary is now an ordained minister within Illinois Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Church USA.

L to R – Anne Munley, Doug Roth, Michael Danner, Hillary Watson, Curt Fenton, and Melissa Bietler

Hillary’s ordination is the culmination of a 4-year process. During the last four years, Hillary was active in ministry. Her call was tested and her gifts were demonstrated in the church community. Her call was confirmed and her gifts were affirmed.

Ordination candidates prepare a written response to questions about their faith, theology, spiritual disciplines, leadership, and Anabaptist witness. The candidates responses serve as the basis for the interview. The CLT reports joy in reading Hillary’s writing and engaging her in substantive discussions sparked by her journey.

Michael Danner, of IMC, says, “I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use Hillary’s gifts and passion for others in ministry.”  Please pray for Hillary as she lives into this calling. A celebration is being planned by leaders at Lombard Mennonite Church.

The IMC Church Life Team consists of Anne Munley, Doug Roth (chair), Charlotte Lehman (absent for this interview), and Curt Fenton. Michael Danner, Conference Executive Minister, also participates in credentialing interviews.

To learn more about the ordination process and what ordination means within an Anabaptist/Mennonite context, read A Shared Understanding of Ministerial Leadership, available at mennomedia.com

Entrepreneurial Pastors Needed!

by Michael Danner via michaeldanner.net

I hear this all the time.

“Churches need entrepreneurial pastors.”

I never knew what to think about that – until I read Seth Godin’s January 16, 2018 post “The four elements of entrepreneurship”.

Like most of Seth’s work, that post was brief, to the point, and helpful. In that post, Seth talked about four things people do when they are acting like entrepreneurs.

1. They make decisions.

2. They invest in activities and assets that aren’t a sure thing.

3. They persuade others to support a mission with a non-guaranteed outcome.

4. This one is the most amorphous, the most difficult to pin down and thus the juiciest: They embrace (instead of run from) the work of doing things that might not work.

If that is what people mean when they say, “The church needs entrepreneurial pastors!” I’m all in.  The church in post-Christendom America definitely needs…

  1. Pastors who make decisions (especially hard decisions no one else wants to make)!
  2. Pastors that are willing to invest in activities and assets that aren’t a sure thing – especially people.
  3. Pastors that persuade others to support (and participate in) a mission where the outcome is unclear and not guaranteed.
  4. Pastors that embrace the “work of doing things that might not work.”

Pastor,  do those four activities describe what you do as you lead your congregations?