By Melissa Lauber
*Originally posted by Baltimore-Washington Conference website.

It’s church, but better than church. Or, it’s not church, but churchy. Or it’s church, only different. It’s church as church should, or could, be church.

Defining the BWC’s new Change Maker ministry, which lies at the intersection of organized religion and social innovation, can lead church people into verbal calisthenics. It can also lead them to encounters with fascinating new ministry.

In a nutshell, Change Makers is a unique ministry of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and Wesley Seminary, funded by a grant, for young adults interested in creating ministry that expands beyond the sanctuary and draws on the best of business, government, non-profits and church to create social change.

*originally posted on Baltimore-Washington Conference website.

Change Makers is a unique ministry of the Baltimore-Washington Conference and Wesley Seminary for young adults interested in creating ministry that expands beyond the sanctuary and draws on the best of business, government, non-profits and church to create social change.
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Based on experiences at Taste and See events around the conference, several people applied to participate in in a 10 month project made possible by a Young Clergy Initiative grant from GBHEM. It started with an immersion experience focusing on innovation in London and San Antonio, Texas. From there, they’ve begun ideating and experimenting. In May, they’ll take next steps to accelerate their social innovation and create a new expression of church. Along the way, mentors accompany the Change Makers in having vocational and theological conversations.
Beth Ludlum shared a reflection from the Change Makers experience in London. I had the opportunity to accompany the group to San Antonio’s Learning Lab. Below are postcards home from the week seeped in imagination, creativity, community, innovation and transformation. 

Enjoy the postcards posted by Melissa Lauber, Director of Communications for the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church, from the San Antonio Learning Lab. 

By Beth Ludlum
*Originally posted on Baltimore-Washington Conference website.

"You just might be God’s answer to the question your community is asking.”

This sentiment, articulated by a ministry partner in London, captured one impulse that drives the Change Maker’s Project. Launched this summer, the Change Makers Project supports young adults in hearing God’s call to innovative ministry through mentoring, missional immersions, entrepreneurial community engagement, and vocational conversations.

This year, 22 diverse young adults are engaged from three geographic regions: Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Western Maryland. The Change Makers are accompanied by eight mentors, all ordained Elders in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, whose role is to foster theological reflection, spiritual growth, and vocational discernment. Each cohort had initial gatherings in May and June, and the cohorts began the learning journey with a trip together to London in July 2018.