Leadership Excellence

Leader: Erin Hawkins

Saturday, December 14, 2024 

10am- 1pm ET

Lay Leadership in Uncertain Times

We are living in times that are filled with great challenges and possibilities. The United Methodist Church along with its congregations and ministries, has a unique opportunity to embrace a future that builds on the best of what has gone before and that leaves behind that which no longer serves. This requires bold leadership! If the church is to emerge as a beacon of hope, service, sanity and faith in a world where all of those things seem to be in short supply, then inspiring, dedicated and ethical lay leadership is essential.

In this webinar, we will explore the skills, competencies and practices that can assist laity to lead the church forward in these uncertain times.

Black Methodists for Church Renewal

2024 Laity Leadership Institution

Sponsored by Black Methodists for Church Renewal Advocacy Committee

Leadership Excellence is the fourth of four courses this year for persons who want to deepen their understanding and response to God's call to ministry as a layperson, build skills, and relationships building, network, and equip leaders to minister in our churches and communities. Each of these courses is 3 hours in length.

Laity Leadership Institution is an opportunity to provide guidance, direction, and motivation in leading Laity in a new and exciting way. Move Laity outside the walls of the Church and into the community. One way to accomplish this is a transformative mindset and framework, which includes these four 3-hour live online courses—embracing efforts to help people grow spiritually through such workshops.  As a Servant Lay Leader, these four courses have been created for personal vision and new ways to help your grow in your faith journey and unique skill sets in order to improve and strengthen your church’s ministries and beyond.

These courses are intended to equip, uplift and support all Laity Black Methodists for Church Renewal across all denominations, and the Church universal.

Leadership Excellence—Speaker Bio

Erin Hawkins-Smith is the Executive Director of Connectional Ministries for the California Pacific Annual Conference.  She began serving in this capacity in September 2020 and she works with the bishop, cabinet, and elected conference leaders to fulfill four primary responsibilities: serve as steward of the conference’s vision and mission, lead a continuous process of transformation and renewal, ensure alignment of conference resources with the vision, and ensure connections among local churches, districts, the conference, and the general church.

Prior to that she served as the General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race of The United Methodist Church since 2007, an agency historically charged with leading our Church’s efforts to be fully inclusive of the participation of racial ethnic persons in its life and work, and challenging the Church and society when racism rears its destructive head.

Mrs. Hawkins-Smith earned a Master of Science in Organizational Development from American University (Washington D.C.), a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside (Riverside, CA) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies.

She lives in Los Angeles, with her husband Patrick.