Leader Magazine provides free resources to assist churches

HARRISONBURG, Va.—To help meet the needs of congregations amid a global pandemic and time of racial reckoning, MennoMedia is releasing a COVID-19 issue of Leader magazine and offering a webinar on anti-racism, the latest in a series of new webinars.

“In mid-March, MennoMedia offered curriculum and periodicals digitally as a way to help churches meet an immediate need. Since then we’ve undertaken a larger process of reimagining the future with new products and webinars to the meet the ever-changing needs of churches,” said Amy Gingerich, executive director and publisher at MennoMedia. “Ours is a ministry of proclamation. We proclaim the gospel through publishing, and we at MennoMedia want to be part of what’s sustaining your congregation at this time.”

Leader magazine, published by MennoMedia, is releasing a free, extra edition of the publication digitally that is focused on COVID-19. Normally Leadermagazine publishes quarterly in print and is available only to subscribers. However, this new digital edition is available for free to anyone. It’s an extra edition, making it the fifth issue this year for the normally quarterly publication.

The free digital issue of Leader Magazine contains articles and resources to help address pressing questions facing our churches. How can our Anabaptist biblical interpretation, faith, and practice inform a long-term strategy for ministry and mission for such a time as this? Articles are written by pastors and practitioners from the U.S. and Canada on topics including trauma and grief, how to keep church members connected, and pandemic pastoral care for marriages, among others.

Download the free issue at one of the following links:

Leader magazine started a monthly webinar series in May.

“These webinars grow out of the ‘practical, effective, Anabaptist’ tagline that’s core to the vision of Leader magazine. Subscribers know and value the content in Leader magazine, and creating these Adaptive Church webinars is a way to step up and make sure we are providing fresh content to meet the needs of churches,” Gingerich added.

“Expanding Our Witness: Equipping Ministry for Anti-Racist Change” is the next Adaptive Church webinar series at 2 p.m. ET Thursday, July 9. Important conversations around race have started with renewed vigor on national and global stages after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others. This webinar will focus on the perspectives of Black and African American communities that have been crying out “no justice, no peace.” To register for the free webinar, visit bit.ly/ExpandingOurWitness.

Previous Adaptive Church webinars have focused on preaching to the screen and pastoral care at a distance. Recordings of those webinars are available on MennoMedia’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/mennomedia.

“The world is changing fast and we want to help churches flourish during this time,” Gingerich added.