The Ecclesia Network

a missional church network

Search Results for: mandy smith

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Leader’s Profile- Mandy Smith

Mandy Smith is the lead pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati, OH. We had a few questions for her!

How would you describe the area your church is in?

A diverse, walkable urban context by the University of Cincinnati campus and lots of restaurants. Culturally very post- (even anti-) Christian.

How would you describe the journey of pastoring UCC? What have been some of the milestones/different seasons?

The church is 30 years old this year and it feels like we’re going through the same kinds of things we go through as individuals when we reach that stage of life–thinking longer term instead of just getting by. It can feel challenging to pastor in a place that is in so much transition all the time but it’s also exciting.

Looking back, what do you know now you wish you had known when you first started at UCC?

That it was normal for this work to feel impossible.

As you think about what you’ve been able to do so far in ministry there what are some things you have done/tried that have worked well?

1. Praying for everything, all the time! 2. Inviting groups to pray for everything all the time.

What hasn’t worked so well? What have you had to rethink/reimagine/rework?

When we opened our cafe 16 years ago we wanted so much to be hospitable to the neighborhood that we said yes to everyone all the time, even letting people keep tabs without asking them to pay, letting folks misuse the space etc. We’ve had to see that hospitality without boundaries is actually welcoming a few people at the expense of others. We almost had to close the cafe as a result of this misunderstanding of hospitality. How would that have been blessing the neighborhood if we said yes to small, unhelpful things so much that it meant saying no to being here long term?

What is one failure you experienced and what did you learn from it?

I can think of many things I wish I’d/we’d done differently but at the same time I see how powerfully God’s grace was shown in them (to me and to the church) so I genuinely have a hard time thinking of failures.

What is something you’ve been hearing from or learning from God in this last season of leading?

It’s okay to not have a five year plan but to discern the next step ahead and then, after learning from that stage, to discern what’s next. God provides guidance like he provided manna in the desert – a little at a time. I think it’s so we remember we need him every day.

What do you dream/hope/pray UCC looks like in five years?

Sending even more folks out on mission (in the broadest definition of that term), developing more folks for Christian leadership in whatever work they’re doing. Bringing folks into relationship with Jesus for the first time (not only helping folks recover from church baggage)

We also recently featured Mandy on our Ecclesia Podcast- you can listen here

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The Vulnerable Pastor: Being a Human Being in Ministry w/ Mandy Smith

 

Ecclesia pastor and author Mandy Smith has done some deep thinking on what it means to be a human in ministry and how God shows up in our weakness.

Often as pastors we feel like we need to project strength and competency in order to minister effectively. That’s why we go to conferences and emulate the latest superstars. But we know we can never live up to those images. Deep down, we know our own limitations, our weaknesses, our faults. We fear that if people knew who we really are, we’d be disqualified from ministry.

Not so. Mandy Smith points us to the biblical paradox that God’s strength is revealed through our human weakness, that vulnerability shapes ministry, through our spiritual practices and relationships, influencing our preaching, teaching and even the nuts and bolts of the daily schedule. Understanding our human constraints makes our ministry more sustainable and guards us against disillusionment and burnout.

 

Register for this FREE webinar
Thursday May 18, 3:30-5pm ET/12:30-2pmPT
Register Now

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The Vulnerable Pastor: Being a Human Being in Ministry w/ Mandy Smith

 

Ecclesia pastor and author Mandy Smith has done some deep thinking on what it means to be a human in ministry and how God shows up in our weakness.

Often as pastors we feel like we need to project strength and competency in order to minister effectively. That’s why we go to conferences and emulate the latest superstars. But we know we can never live up to those images. Deep down, we know our own limitations, our weaknesses, our faults. We fear that if people knew who we really are, we’d be disqualified from ministry.

Not so. Mandy Smith points us to the biblical paradox that God’s strength is revealed through our human weakness, that vulnerability shapes ministry, through our spiritual practices and relationships, influencing our preaching, teaching and even the nuts and bolts of the daily schedule. Understanding our human constraints makes our ministry more sustainable and guards us against disillusionment and burnout.

 

Register for this FREE webinar
Thursday May 18, 3:30-5pm ET/12:30-2pmPT
Register Now

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Ecclesia Welcomes New Board Member Mandy Smith!

Originally from Australia, Mandy Smith is lead pastor of University Christian Church, a campus and neighborhood congregation with its own fair-trade café in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a regular contributor to Christianity Today publications and the Missio Alliance Blog and the author of The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry and Making a Mess and Meeting God. She is also the creator of The Collect, a citywide trash-to-art project. Mandy and her husband Jamie, a New Testament professor at Cincinnati Christian University, live with their two kids in a little house where the teapot is always warm.

Mandy says, “I’m honored to join my friends in serving on the Ecclesia Network board. God has used EN to remind me I’m not alone and I want to do whatever I can to help EN continue to encourage and equip others.”

The Ecclesia Network Board 2017

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Preaching Bundle: Proclamation, Imagination and the Grand Narrative of Scripture

The best Ecclesia Resources on the art of Preaching, all together in one bundle!

Video and Audio!

 

Weren’t able to take part in our Preaching Tune Up cohort this year? Don’t worry- you can still get the better part of the resources.

Here’s Brad Nelson giving us a master class on preparation, Norton Herbst helping us understand how we can preach the Gospel without becoming formulaic and Mandy Smith helping us understand how we can bring creativity and imagination!

Hosted by J.R. Briggs.

In addition:

From our 2014 Ecclesia National Gathering.

David Fitch: Proclamation versus Explanation: Refusing to Defend The Authority of Scripture for the Sake of Inviting The World into It

Often we get caught up in apologetic concerns when it comes to the authority of Scripture. This sets into motion a dynamic, which not only undercuts the authority of Scripture in the world, but sets us over against those who have not yet believed. Instead, we need to see Scripture as an extension of the work of God in the world. It is God’s unfolding Narrative of His Mission. It has been given to us and extended an authority by Jesus Christ Himself by the Spirit through the church for the world. The authority of Scripture therefore is inextricable from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is only as we live in His mission (the Story), under His authority as Lord, that we can then proclaim his message as witness to what God is doing to save the whole world. Only in embodied witness, is Scripture’s authority is made manifest to the world. Rather than defend it then and divide ourselves from the world, we only need proclaim it and invite in.

Scot McKnight: Scripture’s Grand Narrative – Kingdom, Mission, & World

Mission in the world, even if it requires discernment of what God is doing in our local community, is anchored in Scripture and God’s clear message about what God is doing. God’s mission from the beginning to the end is to form God’s People — Israel, Church, Kingdom. This session explores the centrality of the Church, the local church in particular, for discerning God’s mission in the world today.

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Preaching Tune Up ’19: Preaching with Creativity

Weren’t able to take part in our Preaching Tune Up cohort this year? Don’t worry- you can still get the better part of the resources.

Here’s Mandy Smith helping us understand how we can bring creativity and imagination. Hosted by J.R. Briggs.

About Mandy:

Originally from Australia, Mandy Smith is lead pastor of University Christian Church, a campus and neighborhood congregation with its own fair-trade café in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a regular contributor to Christianity Today publications and the author of Making a Mess and Meeting God. Her latest book is The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry (IVP). Mandy and her husband Jamie, a New Testament professor at Cincinnati Christian University, live with their family in a little house where the teapot is always warm.

 

 

 

Video- runtime: 1:12 hr