Breaking Barriers

Barriers are difficult to break in most areas of life. Unfortunately, we face the same challenges of breaking barriers in our churches. If we do succeed in breaking a barrier, the experience is often that churches get stuck on the next level for a long time.
During the Saturday morning session at SoCD, all participants will engage in a reflective process over the dynamics of this situation and learn from experience and practice in going from one level to the next, and at the same time build a sustainable path for continual growth and development in the future.

To accommodate our different starting points, the Saturday morning session will have 3 learning groups based on your church context:
- Small to Medium Churches with Thomas Risager, going from approx. 30 people in average attendance,        reaching for next level.
- Medium to large Churches with Jørgen Thaarup, going from approx. 60 to next level.
- Large to x-large Churches with Jon Løvland, going from approx. 90/100 to next level.

Pastor Thomas Risager from Odense in Denmark serves as DS in the Danish Annual Conference, and as pastor in Odense UMC. He has led the turnaround of the church in Odense, where gospel music ministry has been key to growth of worship attendance and membership.  He holds a Doctor of Ministry in church Leadership from Wesley Theological Seminary.

Pastor Jørgen Thaarp from Copenhagen in Denmark, teacher and dean of the Methodist Theological Seminary Överås 1986-2009, External lecturer at the THS Stockholm since 2009. Teacher at the Methodist E-Academy in systematic theology since 2015. Doctor of Ministry in Methodist ecclesiology, Dr. Theol. in Wesleyan and Grundtvigian Theology, District superintendent in Denmark and pastor of the Jerusalem Church in Copenhagen. His teaching at the SoCD will lift up the biblical and modern sociological perspectives of being a medium size church in a Northern European context.

Jon Løvland is a Chuch Development Consultant from Norway, working with Strategic Development for Churches. He is also a certified Natural Church Development Coach, a John Maxwell Team Speaker/Trainer/Coach and a DISC consultant. His desire is to add value to you and to help you discover and reach your God given potential.