Extension Ministries
There are a multitude of ways that elders and deacons in the Desert Southwest Conference are serving God beyond the local church, offering vital ministries to the Church and the world. These extension ministries unite a clergy’s gifts and the needs of the world. They also extend the ministries of the Desert Southwest and the church universal in ways that cannot be accomplished by clergy with full time responsibility to a parish and its ministry to the world.
We can view extension ministries through the lens of our Conference strategic directions: social holiness, leadership development, and new faith communities. Through outreach ministries such as the ECH/Justa Center and TMM Family Services, extension ministers are working hard to offer food, shelter, transition assistance, advocacy, relationships and worship opportunities for every age level (Social Holiness). Campus ministries, The Academy for Spiritual Formation, El Aposento Alto, Piecing Stories and more are providing spiritual formation opportunities and encouraging faith leaders whose hearts are transformed and who are eager to be engaged in bearing witness to God’s grace in tangible ways (Leadership Development). Clergy who provide leadership in planting new churches or even who serve in counseling centers and as hospital and hospice chaplains share hearts of compassion that enable people to experience God’s love, heal and grow spiritually and engage in amazing ways in matters of the soul (New Faith Communities).
It is cause for celebration that clergy appointed to our conference serve God within the geographical boundaries of the Desert Southwest Conference and beyond in places like Ohio, Tennessee, Africa, Cuba and throughout the world. Praise be to God as we seek to be one with Christ, one with each other and one in ministry to all the world!