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Workshop guides Hispanic leaders to discover pros/cons of their personal styles

4/6/2012
By JUAN QUINTANILLA  
      The Committee on New Hispanic Church Development hosted a two-day Hispanic bilingual workshop in February at The United Methodist Center at Simpsonwood with Jim Griffin, founder of Griffith Coaching Network.  The Leadership, Teamwork & Vision workshop participants were 41 clergy and laity from North Georgia and several United Methodist conferences around the United States.
    Each participant took the Personal Discernment Inventory (DISC), the Team Profile, and Discovering Your Conflict Management Style inventories to better understand their individual leadership style and how they deal with conflict.
    Once they understood their personal styles, which included Dominant/Driving, Influential/ Expressive, Steady/Amiable, Conscientious/Analytical, they examined how the results could affect their vision for church ministry and how they define their personal mission field. 
     We learned that each style of leadership has strengths, as well as weaknesses, that make us more effective in some situations and less effective in others.  As a matter of fact, the potential in leadership and personal effectiveness are often determined by matching strengths against certain situations.
      Each participant was encouraged to be aware of their own leadership and conflict management style, as well as the style of individual team members.  It is beneficial to help each person to better understand why leaders, and sometimes the ministry team, have a different perspective for ministry. 
        The goal is to not see our differences as a challenge to do ministry, but as a resource of the body of Christ with different functions, choosing team members that compliment each other’s leadership style, strengths and weaknesses.
It was stressed that the focus of Hispanic ministry should not only be for the status of United States citizens. By focusing on the 2.0 group (Hispanic U. S. citizens), the Conference will be preparing the Hispanic bilingual leaders for tomorrow. 
       Being prepared for this second generation is crucial in readying the North Georgia Conference to prepare for year 2050 when one out of every three Americans will be Hispanic. This is the challenge that will face Hispanic Ministry and The Committee on New Hispanic Church Development in continuing to look for those opportunities that exist in ministry to the Hispanic communities living in and around each of the North Georgia Conference church neighborhoods.
 
 
       
 
 
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