A review of all of the activities of our association since its inception in 1953.
Where MCMA has come since 1953...
The Beginnings
The MCMA started as the Minnesota Sunday School Association in 1953, originally organized to stage a national Sunday School convention in Minneapolis. The next year, the decision was made to hold an annual convention offering training for Sunday School and church leaders from all over the State of Minnesota.
As the ministry continued to grow, additional leadership was necessary to sustain the program. For a number of years Dr. Herb Hazzard was the missionary consultant for the MSSA and he travelled widely across the state doing workshops and conferences in addition to the annual convention. He divided his time between MSSA and Camp Lebanon in Upsala, MN. In the 1970's, Dr. Hazzard passed on the baton of leadership to Rev. Arnold Carlson, a respected lay minister in the Covenant Church. He served as Executive Director a few years until the ministry was maintained by a volunteer board for several years.
Timothy A. Johnson Era
By the early 1980's Sunday School convention ministry began to wane around the country and attendance and involvement in MSSA lagged as well. A discouraged Board of MSSA passed the responsibility for leadership in 1981 to a new group of leaders who began a new movement with the Association. Throughout the early 1980's, MSSA's program continued to develop and grow until it was deemed necessary for full-time leadership to go forward. In 1984, the Board of Directors called Timothy A. Johnson as Executive Director.
Throughout the 1980's and early 1990's there was a resurgence the the Sunday School convention movement all over the country. Great response was seen in many states with conferences cropping up all over. The Minnesota program drew in excess of 2000 on a weekend throughout those days and there were many hundreds of churches being served.
Transition to MCMA
By the middle of the 1990's the general direction of church training Associations around the U.S. was to rebrand themselves as Church Ministries Associations, or some other deisgnation. This was seen as truth in advertising because the former Sunday School handle did not really describe the full range of training and resources being offered by these groups. It was in that period that the decision was made to reincorporate our association as the Minnesota Church Ministries Association, reflecting the broader focus of our work. That was effected by 1996.
Recent Developments
In recent years the MCMA has made efforts to provide more targeted training for specific ministry needs in the church, reached out regionally around the state with general training conferences, developed new connections with senior pastors through the Pastors' Roundtable book club, expanded the personal mentoring and encouragement ministry of the Executive Director, and responded to a call from Africa to provide leadership training in a growing network across that continent. This move to Africa has opened doors of opportunity in Europe and America, as well, as MCMA has linked with immigrant populations in several centers.
The addition of Rev. Natt E. Miller, II as Associate Director gives some great opportunities for expansion and strengthening of the work of MCMA. We thank God for his dynamic leadership and international perspective.
As the future emerges, MCMA is seeking expanded opportunities to seize current technology in providing its services to the Church. The Association takes great satisfaction in knowing that over the last 25 years nearly 1600 congregations across the state have been served in their training and resourcing needs. Well over 15,000 households have been touched with its ministry. The future has many opportunities looming. MCMA seeks to walk through the open doors available as it continues to develop a network of pastors, leaders, teachers, and workers committed to building a generation of confident leaders and teachers.
In an effort to pursue future possibilities, in October 2021, Rev. Matt Stacey, pastor of First Baptist Church of Long Prairie, joined the executive team as Associate Director for Ministry Development. Rev. Stacey brings a strong mind and heart and good educational background with him that will enable him to work with our Board of Directors to plot strategy and tactics for the coming season.
