CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) PACIFIC SOUTHWEST REGION GENERAL BOARD REPORT April 11-14, 2015

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1 General Board Business Item #GB CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) PACIFIC SOUTHWEST REGION GENERAL BOARD REPORT April 11-14, 2015 Submitted by Don Dewey, Co-Regional Minister-President The PSWR is blessed with an amazing staff that is passionate, dedicated, and Spirit-filled! Regional Ministry Team Don Dewey, Co- Regional Minister-President, ordained, M, C, FT Susan Gonzales Dewey, Co-Regional Minister-CEO, ordained, F, H, FT Dan Oliver, Staff for Stewardship & Giving, ordained, M, C, PT Xose Escamilla, Staff for Hispanic Ministries, ordained, M, H, PT Wilfredo del Pilar, Staff for Hispanic Ministries, ordained, M, H, PT Young Jun Yang & Young Lan Kim, Staff for Asian Ministries/NAPAD, ordained, M & F, A, PT JoAnne Bynum, Staff for African-American Ministries, ordained, F, AA, PT Matthew Haris-Gloyer, Young Adult Ministry, M, C, PT BJ Barlow, Youth Ministry, M, C, PT Sloan Hamilton, Camp Manager for Loch Leven Camp & Conference Center, F, C, FT Office Staff Bruce Indermill, Sr. Administrator, M, C, FT Branden Hendricks, Administrative Assistant, M, C, FT Janna Gould, Media and Communications, F, C, PT Michel Johnson, Support staff, F, C, PT Team CFO, Financial Advisors We believe God calls the Pacific Southwest Region to be a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. The Pacific Southwest Region is made up of 118 congregations, with 25 congregations affiliating. We have a wide diversity of participating members, which include Hispanic, Chinese, Korean, African American, Samoan and many multiethnic, multi-racial congregations. OUR VISION, to be a faithful, growing regional church that demonstrates true community, deep Christian spirituality and a passion for justice (Micah 6:8); and, OUR MISSION, to be and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, witnessing, loving and serving from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

2 OUR GOALS, 1) To be One Church; 2) To be a Missional Church; 3) To nurture and develop vital, healthy, growing congregations; 4) To be a well-organized and well administered Region. As we seek to fulfill the General Church priority of becoming a Proreconciling/Anti-racist church Goal #1 To Be One Church: In 2014 & 2015 we held an Anti-Racism Education event for our youth and young adult as a part of our Annual MLK celebration. Regional Minister Don Dewey also serves on the Board of the Hispanic Commission and Rev. Susan Gonzales Dewey serves on the NAPAD Board. We held another Anti-Racism training event for Pastors and Laity with over 100 attending, led by Rev. Sandhya Jha. Our Committee on Ministry has now made Anti-Racism a requirement for Ordination. Our Regional Gathering was held October 2014 at First Christian Church of Garden Grove and had over 450 in attendance with the theme: Walking in Light and Love Together with our scripture focus of Ephesians 5:1,2. Our speakers were Rev. Julian DeShazier, pastor of University Church in Chicago and adjunct professor at the Divinity School and McCormick Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Sandy Messick, Regional Minister for the Northwest. Also in October 2014 we held our Annual Pastors Summit with over 100 pastors attending. Goal #2 To Be a Missional Church: Within our Region we have two significant mission sites, All Peoples Christian Center, located in South Central Los Angeles and Eastmont Community Center, located in East Los Angeles. The mission of All Peoples Christian Center is to provide a broad spectrum of social services to all, regardless of faith or race, and to empower the community to meet its needs by promoting equality, unity, respect and self-determination among all who participate in its programs. Handson mission experiences are conducted by groups within the Region and outside the Region at All Peoples. Eastmont Community Center in collaboration with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is designed to enhance the quality of life for children, youth, working adults and seniors in low-income families by providing needed education, social services, and health and wellness services that promote personal development and self-sufficiency. Another unit of our Region is Project IMPACT. Project IMPACT is partnering with congregations as a part of a comprehensive plan for transformation and missiondirected ministry through free tutoring services for at risk youth in local schools. They have members of Disciples congregations providing tutoring, support and facilities for this ministry.

3 We continue to be a Global Mission Partner Region and co-host Global Mission Interpreters Training with our UCC partners and General Church. Plans are under way for our 8 th annual mission trip to Nicaragua. We are also beginning partnership relationships with Mexico and Korea beginning in In partnership with our General Churches Common Global Missions ministry the PSWR with be supporting Paul Turner, member of Abundant Life Christian Church in Los Angeles as a missionary to the Congo in Africa beginning in In our efforts to fulfill the General Church priority of forming 1000 new congregations by 2020, our New Church Development Committee provides ongoing support, guidance and direction for all of our affiliating congregations and churches in formation. We currently have 25 congregations Under Care in the PSWR. Since the beginning of 2014 we have launched 1 new congregation in the PSWR. This is a new church start within our Hispanic Ministry, Casa de Refugio in Covina, is off to a wonderful start. Co-Pastors Francisco Ramos and Soriliz Ramos are developing this exciting new ministry and in just nine months they have gone from zero to over 40 worshipping attendance! We are also starting an exciting new ministry that is being supported by both our New Church Development and our Leadership Committee called the Hatchery. We are developing an innovative, residential learning program for individuals who want to become social transformation entrepreneurs and invest in a local community for multiple years by launching a sustainable common cause community. In our efforts to fulfill the General Church priority of transforming 1000 current congregations by 2020 we continue you to send pastors to the Hope Partnerships Leadership Academy for Trainings. We are now developing Coaching opportunities for pastors and congregations. Our Transformation Team is now conducting Appreciative Inquiry work with several congregations and we have also begun the Journey program with several congregations as well as a special version of the Journey geared toward our African American congregations.

4 Goal #3 To Develop Vital, Healthy, Growing Congregations: We held a very successful leadership training event in 2014 with over 100 pastors and laity attending. We had youth attending winter camps for both Jr. High and High School in partnership with the UCC. In addition, in April we hold our annual Spring Fling for High School students, which is a leadership-training event. We also had over 250 children and youth attending summer camp this year, with a new Wee Camp for our youngest campers. Our Disciples Women strengthen our congregations by holding successful Women s Convocation and Spiritual Growth retreats. In our efforts to fulfill the General Church 4 th priority of Leadership Development, we continue to have great success with our Leadership Apprentice program, training women for leadership for local, regional, and general church. We ve developed a Guides program for young women to develop leadership skills. Our Regional Youth Leadership Team receives training and experience while giving excellent leadership to all our Regional youth programming. We hold annual training opportunities for Camp Directors and Camp Counselors. We continue to hold annual Pastor s Gathering Retreats and Pastor s Summits with well over 100 participating for fellowship, educational development, networking, and spiritual renewal. We currently have 15 to 18 of our Hispanic Pastors participating in the CMS (Certificate of Ministry Studies) program. This is a two-year seminary level educational program with our partner DSF (Disciples Seminary Foundation) coordinated by our Regional Staff, Xose Escamilla, for Hispanic Ministries. We are also developing an MDiv program for Korean speaking Pastors, also with our partner DSF headed by Rev. Dr. Aaron Park, Pastor of Saegil Christian Church. In addition, this year we launched the first Bethany West program modeled and supported by Bethany Fellowship for pastors in the PSWR. This program is focused on young pastors from our ethnic communities and in their first call. Also under the direction of Regional Staff Xose Escamilla, 15 pastors from our Hispanic congregations participated in 10 month church growth program sponsored by the Region. Goal #4 To Be a Well Organized and Well Administered Region: As our ministry grows, we continue to hire new staff to meet the expanding needs. We have hired a second full time Office Assistant and a part time Assistant to oversee all our media and communications. In addition we hired part time staff to oversee our Youth and Young Adult ministries. We have redesigned our web page to be more accessible, created a Facebook page, and better electronic communications. We also recently contracted with a financial group to help us manage resources. We

5 are also beginning the process to digitize all our documents in order to be cost effective and to be ecologically sound. We will soon have the Region s entire operational budget supported through investment income. Our Regional Board has approved a Master Plan for future development our Camp and Conference Center as well as a plan for fully endowing our camping program. Recommended Action: The General Board receives the report from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Pacific Southwest Region.