By Pastor John Hulden
Fair Hills, Cragun’s, Madden’s, Grand View Lodge, Heartwood, Arrowwood.
If you have driven to the lakes country north of the Twin Cities, some of these names might be familiar. This is a list of the resorts that have hosted Bishop’s Theological Conferences for the three Minnesota synods where I’ve served.
What, you might ask, is a Bishop’s Theological Conference (BTC)? It’s the annual gathering of pastors and deacons, akin to a professional development event for other occupations, where we worship, network, learn, enjoy some free time, and, yes, socialize a bit, too. (I’m grateful to my Northwestern Minnesota Synod colleagues who welcomed all to Cabin 69 in the evenings at Fair Hills, as well as to Wayne and Bruce for hosting evening gatherings for the Minneapolis Area Synod BTC for decades!)
“We are all on the path moving from novice to expert in our callings – always on the journey of learning in a changing world with a faith seeking understanding.”
Joining a synod staff after 26 years in parish ministry, I find these gatherings to be my “congregation.” As a synod pastor, my church community are the lay leaders, church staff, and pastors and deacons of our 130+ congregations that stretch up north from Braham and Dalbo down to New Prague and Henderson. (Redeemer Lutheran in Henderson is the oldest congregation in our synod.) And we extend from our central city congregations out west to Monticello, Buffalo, and Watertown.
THESE PAST FEW DAYS, more than 120 deacons and pastors carved time out of their schedule and headed out after Sunday worship to the Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria for two overnights. What do pastors and deacons learn? This year we asked how does our Lutheran theology and tradition “root us in this moment and equip us for pastoral care, preaching, and engagement”?
Ask your pastor or deacon what was a takeaway from the presentations by our speakers: the Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis (our neighbor to the synod office serving at Plymouth Congregational Church), our very own Pastor Aaron Fuller (zooming in from his ELCA Service and Justice work as a mission pastor at Bratislava International Church in Slovakia), along with a panel of our synod’s pastors.
To drop a few more names, past speakers at our BTC included Dr. Catherine Meeks, Dr. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Bishop Yeheil Curry, Dr. Michael Chan, Pastor Heidi Neumark. You can view a list stretching back to 2013 here: https://mpls-synod.org/pastors-deacons/bishops-theological-conference/
“The Bishop’s Theological Conference is an annual gathering of pastors and deacons, akin to a professional development event for other occupations, where we worship, network, learn, enjoy some free time, and, yes, socialize a bit, too.”
Continuing Education is expected of our deacons and pastors. Continuing Education should be expected of their leaders by our congregations. We are all on the path moving from novice to expert in our callings – always on the journey of learning in a changing world with a faith seeking understanding. Our letters of call to a congregation include an expectation to attend this annual event, and in addition, time and money for rostered leaders to step away for two weeks a year for learnings that benefit not only the pastor or deacon but also the congregation they serve.
BTC is neither vacation time nor should it be the only continuing ed opportunity. The cost of BTC should be built into the congregational budget.
Like a week away at one of our amazing Lutheran Bible Camps, where faith, fun, and friendships flourish, I look forward to next year’s BTC already. How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity (Psalm 133:1) … even for just a few days. I’m all in favor of resorting to learn.