Annual Meeting Will Help Members Balance Resources, Mission

CHHSM members will consider the shared challenge of balancing resources and mission when they convene for the organization’s 78th annual meeting March 3-5 in Houston, Texas.

With the theme “Sustainability through Stewardship and Social Action,” the three-day event is designed to help members learn how to realize their commitments to social justice in the face of limited resources.

“The more you focus on being good stewards of resources and on the care you provide, the more you’re able to expand your ministry regardless of the resources you have,” says CHHSM President and CEO Mike Readinger. “It’s building a ‘culture of philanthropy’ that allows you to better focus your resources.”

Such a culture isn’t just about raising money, Readinger says. It’s about developing healthy relationships with a ministry’s constituents and being more responsive to those it serves.
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Amy Hayman

Two keynote speakers will address the question of sustainability – each from the perspectives of social action and stewardship.

The Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson, pastor of The First United Church of Tampa, will focus on how CHHSM members can answer the call to serve from Micah 6:8. She says the need for justice work has become increasingly apparent over the last year in light of concerns raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Obviously, CHHSM organizations do an excellent job in their ministries, but how do we work more holistically in the 21st century?” Jackson asks. “We need to look more carefully at how we do justice work. The Book of Micah says we must do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.”

Keynote speaker Amy Hayman, a senior banker at Cain Brothers in Chicago, will focus on stewardship issues in today’s demanding climate of measureable outcomes and greater accountability.

Other highlights of this year’s annual meeting include the 20th anniversary celebration dinner honoring current and past classes of Diakonal Ministers consecrated through CHHSM’s leadership formation program, now known as the Nollau Institute.

For the first time this year, members of the Nollau class will present their final projects on leadership at the annual meeting. Also during the meeting, new CEOs of CHHSM ministries will be formally installed with a “covenant of service.”

Aside from all the carefully planned programming, Readinger says the meeting offers time and space for invaluable fellowship.

“This is our annual gathering of our community,” he says. “It’s an enormous opportunity for networking, to see old friends and make new friends. It’s really an important occasion for connecting members to each other.”