Project Directory

The mission and purpose of the Iron Sharpens Iron Initiative is to equip pastors, at all stages in their ministry, with the tools needed to navigate and manage the diverse spiritual, physical, psychological and practical leadership challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.

The Alabama Florida Episcopal District is a geographic jurisdictional region of the A.M.E. Zion Church. It includes all of Alabama and Florida and portions of Georgia and Mississippi. Within the bounds of the District, there are 330 ministers, with 223 (67%) serving as pastors. We share a desire to help our pastors build relationships with experienced clergy who can mentor them through critical challenges in their ministerial life. Our planning project confirmed the needs of our pastors for mentoring, coaching, counseling and professional development. We need to give our senior pastors more opportunities to exercise their spiritual gifts in mentoring and coaching new pastors and pastors launching new churches. To that end, we have designed a five-year project that will provide mentoring, coaching, counseling, peer-to-peer support groups, pastoral retreats, workshops, seminars and succession planning. We have included formative and summative evaluation at multiple intervals throughout the project, as well as a dedicated team that will work on the sustainability of this initiative beyond the five-year implementation project.

The Second Episcopal District African Methodist Episcopal comprises 360 rural, suburban, and urban churches located in Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina serving primarily Black congregations and communities. The Wounded Healers Pastoral Support Program (WHPSP) is designed specifically to promote holistic wellbeing among all clergy in the Second District, including new/early/mid/late-career and retired pastors. WHPSP has five goals that will help pastors thrive: 1. improve self-care, 2. engage spiritual formation practices, 3. maintain healthy boundaries, 4. cultivate authentic voices, and 5. establish meaningful collegial relationships. Pastors can take advantage of the program components, which are support groups, mentoring, retreat, or online web to increase their well-being. Resulting from discussions at clergy town hall meetings and feedback from online webinars, WHPSP partners with Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary and Chaney Coaching Group. Through this collaborative, clergy may receive training as mentors or the prerequisite preparation required to become a certified coach. The program also offers pastors the opportunity to participate in support groups, mentoring, retreats, and/or online Q&A website and webinars.

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) seeks a five-year grant to support its Thriving on the Journey: A Process for Pastoral Leaders program.  This effort aims to support new and midcareer Mennonite pastors as they negotiate key professional transitions to help them address challenges and lead their congregations more confidently.  During this two-year program, new pastors will meet individually every other week with wise pastoral mentors and together as cohorts of five pastors each for three extended weekend gatherings.  Cohorts of six midcareer pastors each will meet with two seasoned leaders with expertise in pastoral ministry and intercultural competence four times a year to build peer mentoring relationships with each other and develop stronger skills for leading congregations in their particular ministry contexts.  To sustain this program, AMBS will seek contributions from participants and their congregations and cultivate gifts from new donors.

Asbury Theological Seminary’s Thriving in Ministry Project is an effort that will form and support small groups (“thriving bands”) for clergy to provide mutual encouragement, mentoring, education and continuing peer relationships.  Rooted in the Wesleyan tradition of class meetings, Asbury’s “thriving bands” will be composed of clergy in particular professional transitional moments, including: 1) women clergy in their first five years of ministry as well as those transitioning to senior leadership; 2) Latina/o bi-vocational pastors in their initial years of ministry when the challenges of establishing a clear identity, managing time and creating healthy family contexts require unique training, peer support and mentoring; and 3) church planters, during their inaugural period of ministry, with a focus on managing change as well as family relationships.  To sustain this project, Asbury will draw on the existing financial resources, test participant-fee structures and develop cost-effective strategies to foster connections through video conferencing resources and mobile device applications.

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.

Auburn Theological Seminary, an ecumenical and multifaith mainline Protestant theological school, requests a five-year grant for partial support for the Preparing Prophetic Leaders for a Multifaith World program, an effort to equip pastors and other emerging faith leaders, especially millennial pastoral leaders of color, with the prophetic imagination, networks of mentorship, and ongoing support they need to lead congregations effectively in the face of the rapidly changing contexts of ministry today.  Through regional and national gatherings that use creative pedagogies to draw on the arts, storytelling and group design exercises, the program will help the young pastors develop relationships with mentors and form a peer network of emerging leaders.  To sustain the program, Auburn will solicit contributions from individuals and partner organizations.