Finding Your Joy in Mission Work

Leader: Deaconess Clara Ester

RECORDED on September 14, 2024 

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Finding your joy in mission...The story of the Good Samaritan has always stood out to Deaconess Clara—even as a child. Her question was always… “but if I don’t help, then what will happen to this man?” Deaconess Clara will explain how growing up with people who offered unconditional love to everyone shaped and molded her.

She will share about her experience and feelings of unhappiness when she was responsible for the oversight of a 2.3 million dollar annual budget community center compared to simply serving families who participated in the services offered—and emphasize how wonderfully blessed we can be when serving others through our calling from God.

Black Methodists for Church Renewal

2024 Laity Leadership Institution

Sponsored by Black Methodists for Church Renewal Advocacy Committee

Finding Your Joy in Mission Work is the third 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!

Register for one, two, three or all four!

Finding Your Joy In Mission Work—Speaker Bio

Clara Ester, born in 1948, is a retired United Methodist deaconess whose lifelong commitment to social justice began during her teenage years when she dedicated herself to Christ. During this formative period, she collaborated with prominent figures from the Civil Rights Era, including the revered Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her activism led her to become a youth organizer for the second Poor People's Campaign in Mississippi, and she went on to hold positions on various boards and agencies in Mobile, Alabama.

The essence of Deaconess Clara Ester can be accurately described with a single word: service. In 1970, she embarked on her journey at the Dumas Wesley Community Center in Mobile, Alabama, which is affiliated with the church. Her roles there included neighborhood organizer, program director, associate director, and, ultimately, executive director until her retirement in 2006.

In 1986, Clara Ester was commissioned as a United Methodist deaconess. At one point in her illustrious career, she assumed the role of board chair for the United Women in Faith's (formerly United Methodist Women) Office of Deaconesses Home Missioners and Missionaries.