ANNUAL MINISTRY REPORT 2017
a) Education and Training
SEMINARS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities by the Ministers on Training, Supervision and Research
Co-minister H. H. Jayapataka Swami:
- Annual strategic-planning meeting with CDM central office and managers to promote congregational training and expansion of services: Emphasis on outreach, training and care. New developments for children, youth and family congregational resources.
- Regular quarterly meetings with CDM manager and coordinators.
- Further the Award & Recognition (medallions and certificates) system for congregational preachers around the world.
- Promotion of different Bhakti-vriksha models tailored for Western audiences.
- Supervision of CDM’s overall annual operation (financial, research, training and promotion) and innovation of new congregational preaching programs.
- Direction on CDM’s presentations and involvement in 2018 ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS).
- Personally visiting areas under his GBC-jurisdiction and supervising local congregational development.
- Nama-hatta planning sessions for expansion (West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar) and leadership training in Sridham Mayapur.
Co-minister Kaunteya das:
- Taught congregational development course at the GBC College for Leadership Development (in Govardhan eco village, Wada, Maharashtra and online)
- Visited:
India – Pune / Italy – Rome, Villa Vrindavana, Florence, Camaiore, Turin, Villaggio Hare Krsna (Bergamo)/ Switzerland – Zurich /Scotland – Karuna Bhavan / USA – Chicago, Naperville, Bloomington (IL), Saint Louis, Washington DC, Central New Jersey./UAE – Damodaradesh, Avataridesh, Syamadesh./China – Beijing, Hong Kong/Singapore
Seva Svarupa Das (General Manager)
- Congregational training in Latin-America (Spanish language):
Monterrey, Mexico DF – Presentation skills training / Bhakti-vriksha / Principles of leadership
Guayaquil, Ecuador at National Convention – Presentations on devotee care.
- Supervision of operations at the CDM central office / Sridhama Mayapur
- Fundraising and networking for CDM
Iksvaku Das (Outreach Coordinator)
- Training on the outreach program: “Gita for Everyone” for devotees (Spanish / English) in Sridham Mayapur / March – April
- Coordination of CDM publications (“The Real Business” and “Gita for Everyone” Booklet 1)
- Supervision of regular Youth-sanga in Mayapur
- Coordination and development of presentations of various congregational seminars for the ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS) 2018 in Sridham Mayapur on the topics of Counseling and Outreach.
- Delivery of the Vaishnava Life Counseling (VLC) in the USA (Chicago, Dallas, Central New Jersey and Los Angeles). This course aims at supporting healthy congregations in ISKCON, by equipping devotees in the practice of providing formal care and assistance to other devotees in our communities.
- Congregational training in Perth, Australia.
- Visit to ISKCON Ecuador /congregational training (Spanish)
- Online (YouTube) presentations on Outreach (English and Spanish)
- Congregational presentations in Kolkata and various temples in South India (Bangalore, Chennai and Hosur).
- Increment of CDM presence in social media; Facebook, Web, Instagram.
Activities by Bhakti-vriksha Senior Coaches Vijay Venugopal das and Prema Padmini devi dasi in 2016
Delivery of various BV Workshops and Leadership training seminars in:
Feb 2017 – BV Seminars in Nagpur
Mar 2017 – BV Seminars in Gurugram
April 2017 – BV Seminars in Ajmer and Udaipur
May 2017 – Ratha-Yatra and BV training – Mathuradesh
June 2017 – BV Summer Festival – Russia
October 2017 – Seminars in Lima, Peru, Buenos Aires, Argentina
January 2018 – BV Winter Festival – Russia
Activities coordinated by Bhakti-vriksha Coaches Manohara Syam Das and Premavatri Citra dd)
- Coordination of visit of HG Prema Padmini dd to Argentina and Peru 1 to deliver training workshops on Bhakti-vriksha.
- Coordination of Bhakti-vriksha committee of Argentina.
- Supervision of congregational development in the southern region of Latin America
- Provide assistance in congregational development to H.H. Yamunacarya das Goswami-
- (Brasil)
Activities by Bhakti-vriksha Coaches (Advaitachandra Das and Kalasudha Devi Dasi)
Houston : Managing 18 Bhakti Vriksha groups, 4 are Non-Indians.
Panama : Bhakti Yoga Workshop, Bhakti Vriksha program, Congregation Development workshop and Facilitation skills workshop.
Phoenix : Workshops on Bhakti-vriksha and Implementation Session, Implementation of the Siksa Program, the Shraddha Kutir program, and “Children’s program”
PROGRAMS & PARTNERSHIPS
Tribal Preaching (www.iskcontribalcare.com)
“ISKCON Tribal Care Initiative” is an initiative of ISKCON caters for the tribal people in India. Currently the initiative will focus on Northeast and East India states. This service covers spiritual, emotional, educational, health and social care.
Bhakti-vriksha (Bv)
The CDM works closely with its network of Bhakti–vriksha leaders to further promote the benefit that this program provides to ISKCON. It is important to note not only the number of devotees and the grooming of new leaders and preachers, but also the congregational support to local and international projects within our movement. Since 2014, an international Bhakti-vriksha working committee has been established for the streamlining of methods and practices of Bvs around the world.
Various leaders are regularly delivering training and developing new material in order to increase the efficiency of the outreach through Bv. The Ministry is actively working on increasing the training of more leaders and making the availability of resources more widely spread to ISKCON devotees. Translating several of these resources into other major languages is also a priority for our central office.
This year the successful completion of 20 of Bhakti-vriksha preaching around the world was celebrated in different localities and a special program was hosted in Mayapur during Gaura Purnima festival.
CDM Youth Service (Goals and Activities)
- Producing a youth manual and a regular newsletter promoting Youth services.
- Developing resources (Manual, PowerPoint Presentations, etc.) and training workshops to encourage the creation of youth programs for a worldwide audience of ISKCON leaders and youth.
- Promotion of a CDM Youth services through social media (YouTube, Facebook and Instagram)
- Engagement of young devotees to assist in the promotion of Youth engagement in ISKCON.
- Created an international Youth Network with over 20 youth leaders and groups from around the world.
- Initiative to create a ISKCON Youth council to coordinate CDM Youth services.
Damodara Program
- The CDM central office actively promotes the celebration of Damodara by encouraging teams of devotees to go home-to-home implementing the program in their localities. We used our social media outlets, mass mails and networks to make available the “Damodara Kit” with all the materials required.
Nama-hatta
- Nama-hatta has reached out to over 15,000,000 people in their last 30 years of preaching. These numbers include people who have attended classes, kirtans, bhajans, dramas, honoring prasadam, chanting and purchased our books.
- 6,200 devotees took training courses in Bhakti Steps (Siksa levels) which has facilitated for many of them to take initiation and engage in preaching Krsna Consciousness.
ISKCON Prison Ministry (IPM)
(iskconprisonministry@gmail.com / www.iskconprisonministry.org)
Yearly, the IPM’s reports of an average of over three thousand of Srila Prabhupada’s books and Back to Godhead magazines being distributed. They also distribute dozens of CDs, DVDs, MP3s, japas and neck beads to inmates.
PUBLICATIONS
CDM Publications
- The Real Business
- Gita for Everyone – Booklet 1
CDM books for Kindle on Amazon.com:
- The Sector Leader
- Free to Preach
- The Bhakti-vriksha Leader
- The Third Partner (Eng/ Spanish)
- The Bhakti-vriksha Manual second edition
- Sri Godruma Kalpatavi
- The Nectar of Congregational Preaching
- A Vaishnava in Every Neighborhood
- Counselling in Bhakti-vriksha
Social Media presence
Website Maintained and regularly updated (www.iskconcongregation.com)
YouTube channel. We have reached a number of 205 videos with a total of 64,453 views (http://www.youtube.com/user/iskconcongregation)
Facebook pages. We have 4 Facebook pages: ISKCON Congregation, Congregation ISKCON (in Spanish), ISKCON Bhakti-vriksha and ISKCON CDM Youth Services. At present, we have a total of 21,477 likes and an average of 2000 people views on our posts on regular basis.
Communication (Email: cdmofficeiskcon@gmail.com) / Function:
• To maintain correspondence with temple authorities and preachers to promote our resources.
• To request the sharing of successful congregational developments and implementation of our resources.
• To collect congregational-preaching scores from ISKCON worldwide to ascertain trends in congregational development and to acknowledge outstanding achievements.
• Requesting nominations from GBC members and local authorities of devotees who have made an exceptional contribution to Congregational development in their areas.
• Sending our regular e-newsletters and news to keep devotees updated on the Ministry’s activities and on developments around the world.
- Management of database nearing 10,000 contacts.