Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church to host virtual speaking events in May

By Jen Jensen

As we continue through a time of reflection, discernment, and hope for what the future holds, we have invited Melissa Florer-Bixler and Peter Chin to reflect on their recent respective articles addressing the challenging times as they speak openly and honestly, but with hope and gratitude.

Each event will include a question and answer portion at the end, and both will be available as a recording for later viewing. Registration is required, but the events are open to all with no fee. Questions about the events can be sent to Jen Jensen, manager for Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church, at jjensen@brethren.org.

Melissa Florer-Bixler will speak on Tuesday, May 3, at 8 p.m. (Eastern time), sharing about her article “Why Pastors Are Joining the Great Resignation” featured in Sojourners (https://sojo.net/articles/why-pastors-are-joining-great-resignation). Florer-Bixler is a Mennonite pastor and an author in Raleigh, N.C., who persists with her community to free people from prisons and to build a world that no longer depends on the logic of incarceration. She was educated at Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and by the people of L’Arche, a community of those with and without intellectual disabilities who share the rhythms of daily life together. She’s written two books, How to Have an Enemy and Fire by Night, and articles in Sojourners, Christian Century, Geez, Image Journal, and Anabaptist World. Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_97UH_NyaRxaEfjmFs0rYcQ.

Peter Chin will speak on Tuesday, May 17, at 8 p.m. (Eastern time), sharing about his article “I’ve Reached My Breaking Point as a Pastor,” featured in Christianity Today (www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/january-web-only/covid-church-pastor-quit-ministry-burnout-breaking-point.html). Chin is senior pastor of Rainier Avenue Church in Seattle, Wash., and a former columnist for Christianity Today. He has planted and led churches in major metropolitan cities throughout the United States, and his ministry focus on racial reconciliation has been featured in the Washington Post, CBS Sunday Morning, and National Public Radio. He is also the author of Blindsided by God, a memoir of his wife’s fight against breast cancer while pregnant with their third child. Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bKB6kj5nRgO0ZaWEUlWXuA.

— Jen Jensen is manager of the Part-Time Pastor; Full-Time Church Program of the Church of the Brethren’s Office of Ministry.