Bethany Congregations
Applications are open for Bethany Congregations Cohort #2!
We are a movement of people of faith seeking embodied resilience of spirit, ecology, systems, and community.
Bethany Congregations, a ministry of the Bethany Fellows, is offering opportunities for six to ten congregations to accompany one another in the Bethany Way. The two-year process will move congregations through Sabbath, Awareness of God, Discernment, and Action.
Next steps
● Prayerfully discern with your leadership teams if this may be a right next step for your congregation.
● Potential participants (clergy and 2 lay leaders) schedule a conversation with Scott and Bethany Congregations Team.
● Explore optional pre-work-book studies and resources will be suggested for the congregation as they enter into or continue this work.
● Thursday, August 22, 7pm ET Welcome Conversation with all participants across the ten congregations (3 people from each church) together.
● Nov. 15-18, 2024 - First virtual retreat with full Bethany Congregations Cohort # 2 Christmount Conference Center, Black Mountain, NC (Leaders arrive November 14).
Bethany Congregations Leadership Team
Dara Cobb Lewis
Rev. Dr. Dara Cobb Lewis is a Bethany Fellows alumna and serves as a Mentor/leader with the
Bethany Fellows Disciples group. Dara serves as Regional Minister of the South Carolina region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She has been a congregational pastor and is currently a pastoral counselor and spiritual director. Dara has done work in anti-racism/pro-reconciliation ministries in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
John Myers
Rev. Dr. John T. Myers serves as a Bethany Ecumenical group Mentor/leader and is Minister of
Church Affairs for the Eastern Virginia Association of the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ. John is active with the NAACP and the Virginia Council of Churches and is a 21-year veteran of the US Navy.
Mollie Landers-Hatt
Rev. Mollie Landers-Hatt is the Associate Pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in Lakewood, CO. Mollie also served as a Bridge Pastor in two Rocky Mountain Conference churches, the Director of Outdoor Ministries for the New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ, and the Associate Director of Outdoor Ministries for the Maine and New Hampshire Conferences, UCC. A graduate of Catawba College, Wesley Theological Seminary, and Andover Newton Theological School, Mollie was ordained in 2012. Mollie lives in Denver with her husband Andrew, two young kids, and two brindle dogs. Mollie loves swimming, hiking, camping, canoeing, and outdoor concerts.
Bethany Congregations Project Director
Scott Hardin-Nieri
Rev. Scott Hardin-Nieri is an alumn of the Bethany Fellowship and director of the Bethany Congregations Pilot Project. He is an ordained pastor with the Christian Church (DOC) He is now serving as Associate Minister for Green Chalice. He has joined the Green Chalice team to coordinate the partnership work with Blessed Tomorrow. Scott has served as a pastor with Heart of the Rockies Christian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as DOC and Presbyterian congregations in Texas. Scott attended Texas A&M University (Whoop!) and holds a Master of Divinity and a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary.
Scott enjoys accompanying people during transformative experiences, whether in worship, spiritual direction, sharing stories, work trips, live music concerts, camps or retreats. He continues to be reminded of his name as “beloved child of God” most clearly in the forests, oceans and deserts and seeks to invite faith communities into conversations regarding creation. He is most alive when playing outside with his partner, Becca, and their two children, Olivia and Nicholas.
Kim Gage Ryan
Building on 25 years of Disciples congregational experience in Texas, Indiana and Missouri, Kim has been involved with Bethany Fellows since 1999 first as a mentor/ leader and as a Director/Co-Pastor of the Bethany Fellows ministry since 2010.
Bethany Congregations Advisory Council
Rev. Teresa Blythe
Rev. Teresa Blythe is a spiritual director, writer, and conference keynote speaker in the Christian tradition. She serves as the spiritual director for First United Church of Christ in Phoenix and runs the Phoenix Center for Spiritual Direction. She has also served as the Director of the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson, AZ.
