China Evangelical Seminary North America (CESNA), a Chinese-speaking nondenominational seminary with a mission to provide training for Chinese pastors and lay leaders who serve in immigrant churches, seeks a five-year grant to support its CESNA Chinese Pastor Care Project. This endeavor seeks to serve new and midcareer Chinese speaking pastors to enhance their spiritual vitality, emotional health, relational support, integrity and resilience. The pastors will form ongoing peer support groups, receive individual mentoring, engage in interactive leadership workshops and participate in spiritual formation retreats held at regular intervals. CESNA will seek donations from participants and sponsorships from congregations to sustain this program.
Project Name:
Pastors in Community for Renewal and Leadership Development
Description:
Macedonian Ministry Foundation (MMF), an ecumenical organization, seeks a five-year grant to establish the Pastors in Community for Renewal and Leadership Development program. This effort will build on and expand a successful program in which groups of 10 to 15 pastoral leaders are formed into cohorts and commit to meet monthly for three years. Each cohort is guided by a trained facilitator who functions as both a mentor and a “pastor to the pastors” and who leads the pastors through a leadership development curriculum focused on pastoral health and leadership, congregational development and community engagement. In addition, the pastors will attend a series of retreats focused on deepening their sense of pastoral identity and vocation and travel together to the Holy Land and other locations for leadership immersion experiences. MMF anticipates that it will launch 21 new pastoral cohorts during the next five years, 7 of which are supported directly by Thriving in Ministry funds. To sustain this program, MMF will incorporate key elements into its operating budget and raise funds as part of its ongoing fundraising.
The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina is planning, as part of its Thriving in Pastoral Ministry in the Episcopal Church program, an effort to launch new priests into vibrant ministries by deepening their community-consciousness and helping them form missional imaginations. The diocese will assign three new priests to serve as pastoral residents for three years in one of three congregations. The priests will rotate through these congregations, serving each congregation for one year. The congregations are geographically proximate and comprise members from diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic communities. Supported by spiritual direction, supervision, mentoring, coaching from senior clergy and leadership development experiences with peers and colleagues, these new clergy will develop cross-cultural competence, missional vision, liturgical agility, leadership skills, and vocational resilience. The diocese will sustain the program by drawing on earnings from endowed funds and raising additional gifts from individuals and congregations.
Project Name:
Philander Smith College - Thriving in Ministry
Description:
The Philander Smith College Thriving in Ministry program supports pastors leading congregations of color in primarily rural and urban settings. Our goal is to provide pastors with essential space to nurture their gifts in a supportive environment, guided by those who are effective and flourishing in ministry. The program is built around three areas of emphasis for current and aspiring pastors: mentoring relationships, personal wellbeing, and continuing education. We come alongside pastors as they work to develop pastoral agency, form mentoring relationships, increase their foundational knowledge and skills, and engage in self-care. Program participants can expect to be provided with essential space to nurture their gifts. The program also seeks to offer opportunities to deepen skills in study and vocational preparation. Periodically, participants will enjoy opportunities for retreat and refreshing to build healthy, collegial, supportive mentoring relationships among pastoral leaders. Special attention will be given to help pastors enhance management, business, and leadership skills. The Philander Smith College Thriving in Ministry program is designed as cohort-driven. Participants engage, connect, and grow together in safe and confidential groups.
Project Name:
Advanced Certificate in Thriving in Church Ministries
Description:
Ashland University seeks a five-year grant for partial support to establish the Thriving in Church Ministry project. The primary focus of the project is to empower pastors to thrive in ministry through learning activities that strengthen pastoral identity, promote long term sustainability in ministry, facilitates significant relationships with peers and fosters a professional learning community. The Thriving in Church Ministry project will gather new, assistant, associate, early career, bi-vocational and co-pastors in metropolitan and economically distressed church communities for project-based learning, Ministry Exchange Workshops and seminars. The advanced Thriving in Church Ministry certificate will include personal assessment, leadership development, case studies, peer education, mentoring, and the development of practices designed to foster healthy relationships. To sustain this project, Ashland will offer an advanced Certificate of Thriving in Church Ministry and assess the needs of laity and clergy for the development of additional certificate offerings in theological education.
Project Name:
Strengthening Foundations for Thriving in Ministry
Description:
Eastern Mennonite University seeks a five-year grant to support its Strengthening Foundations for Thriving in Ministry project. By enhancing continuing education opportunities and facilitating training for peer group coaching, Eastern Mennonite will connect local pastors, who serve as mentors and small group facilitators for seminary students, in a peer group with one another and provide training and resources for geographically scattered pastors to start up and facilitate their own peer groups. In addition, the project will create opportunities for more pastors to experience spiritual direction and participate in workshops that focus on thriving, professional transitions and peer group formation. To sustain this work, Eastern Mennonite will seek partnerships with key denominational constituencies and incorporate project activities into its operating budget.