Annual Ministry Report 2002 - ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry

Annual Ministry Report 2002

Submitted by: Kaunteya Das — Secretary Ministry of: Congregational Development

Summary of the achievements during 2002

Education and Training

The Minister, HH Jayapataka Swami,

Since the last report Kaunteya das gave courses, presentations or demonstrations in:

Asia: Hong Kong, Bali, Singapore, Mumbai, Mayapur, Baroda, Tirupati, Madras, Madurai, Hosur & Bangalore.

Europe: London, Cologne, Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Nueva Vrajamandala, Prabhupadadesh, Bologna, Sarajevo, Split, Belgrade, Smederevo, Nis & Vienna.

USA: San Jose, Sacramento, New Vrindavana, Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Washington DC, Detroit, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New Talavana & Atlanta.

The ISKCON Prison Ministries, headed by Candrasekhara Prabhu, joined us as an integral part of the Congregational Development Ministry.

In cooperation with the MIHE (Mayapur Institute of Higher Education) we started the ISKCON Pastoral School, to facilitate the creation of qualified spiritual guides for the Vaisnava communities worldwide by assisting potential and existing congregational preachers to become competent in three areas:

1. Philosophical and Personal Development
2. Pastoral Skills & Culture
3. Hands-on Experience

We also started a department dedicated to Children’s Programs. Matajis Vidya and Sri Laksmi, based in Bangalore, are in charge of this section Of the Ministry.

Publications

Since the last report the Ministry produced:

  • The Book of Icebreakers, more than 300 ideas on how to start a congregational meeting.
  • Free to Preach by Prema Padmini Devi Dasi (two editions), an autobiographical account of establishing a Vaisnava community according to the principles of Bhakti- vriksha Program in a country of the Middle East, going from two to two-thousand devotees.
  • Bhakti-vriksha Manual in Spanish.
  • The quarterly magazine Congregational Preaching Journal continues to be regularly published and we started the Spanish edition (the plan is to publish it three times a year).
  • We continued the publication of CP News (Congregational Preaching Newsletter).

Website / E-mail

  • We started a new, completely redesigned web site: www.namahatta.org
  • The email conference Nama-hatta Forum, on Pamho, continues with a growing membership.
  • Resources
  • Udaranga Devi Dasi produced two CDs of seminars and one narration of the Free to Preach book.
  • Kalavati Devi Dasi produced an interactive CD based on the Bhakti-vriksha Manual.

    2. Please share your vision for the activities of the Ministry for 2003.

Vision

  • We plan to acquire land in Mayapur and build offices for the Ministry and educational facilities for the ISKCON Pastoral School.
  • We plan to facilitate the traveling of Candrasekhara Prabhu so that he can introduce the techniques and values of prison preaching to a larger audience of devotees.
  • We plan to start producing a video-magazine on CD with news and interviews related to congregational development.
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