California Lutheran University received a five-year grant to create the Thriving Leadership Formation Program. Working in partnership with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and 11 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the program will help pastors and church leaders strengthen specific practical leadership skills not learned in seminary while encouraging them to deepen their engagement with their congregations and communities. This effort will emphasize collaborative learning in cohorts (in person and online) that cultivate mutual support, practices, and accountability, and provide pastors and church leaders with mentoring, spiritual direction and coaching. To sustain this program, California Lutheran and its partner organizations will monetize mentoring and leadership development resources developed through the program and solicit financial support from its network of synods and congregations.
The Center for Faith and Imagination (CFI) at Memphis Theological Seminary offers resources and opportunities for faith leaders to live fully and healthily into their calls to ministry. Building on the importance of Christian community and grounded in the understanding that clergy are called to be both pastors and prophets, CFI programs include: Faith Formation Groups: small groups of clergy who covenant to meet face-to-face twice monthly for two years for theological reflection, collegial encouragement, and mutual accountability in a setting to form and deepen relationships, knowledge, spiritual practices, and ministerial vision; Scholarships: in partnership with Clergy Coaching Network, will provide funding for clergy coaching and spiritual direction for ministers whose budgets do not include this support; Immersive Retreats: opportunities for clergy to learn from and with partner individuals and organizations who are effectively engaged in imaginative ministries addressing both the inward and outward journeys of faith leaders and laity; Renewal in Nature: outdoor experiences to provide rest, renewal, and recreation for faith leaders by connecting with God’s creation and with fellow participants through hiking, fishing, gardening, canoeing, and wandering in the woods led by naturalists and spiritual guides; Fellowships: selected recent MTS graduates serving in in under-paid or unpaid settings receive a year’s stipend and are partnered with a faculty mentor to help them develop innovative ministries.
The University of Mount Olive is home to The Mantle Bearers Project (MBP), an initiative designed to create a system of support for clergy in their first ten years of ministry, as well as create learning and development opportunities for seasoned clergypersons. Through the framework of 1 Kings 19, we believe that God is calling us to train both the Elijah and the Elisha, the mentor and mentee. The MBP seeks to identify and train seasoned (thriving) clergy, in order for them to become mentors and facilitators of less-seasoned clergy. This project will also recruit and develop peer-to-peer networks of rural, small-congregation clergypersons who are serving in their first ten years of ministry. These formative years, according to previous findings, can be highly unstable if one does not have the presence of a stable mentor. Peer-to-peer cohorts will run annually, and upon completion, participants will be moved into a one-to-one coaching relationship with a certified coach. It is the goal of the MBP to create a minimum of 12 diverse peer-to-peer cohorts in eastern North Carolina over the next five years, and to train at least 25 clergy to become thriving mentors among rural, small-congregation settings.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Inc. (CBF) seeks a four-year grant to create the Thriving in Ministry Initiative program, an effort to help clergy build and sustain collegial relationships to enhance their leadership capacities. Pastors who are at the same stages in their careers or serve congregations in similar contexts will form peer colleague groups and meet monthly with experienced pastor-mentors, called CBF Pilots. An initial gathering of all the cohorts will launch the program, and a capstone retreat will conclude each year. Throughout the year, each cohort will collect their best insights and reflections and combine them into published leadership resources (called Gleanings for the Journey) to share with other pastors and congregations. These resources may include written entries by both CBF Pilots and participants, podcasts, blogs, webinars and curricula. To sustain this initiative, CBF will incorporate this program into its operating budget and solicit gifts from donors.
Project Name:
Enhancing Mission: Thriving Pastors and Beeson Divinity School
Description:
Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, an interdenominational theological school within a Christian university rooted in the Baptist tradition, seeks a five-year grant to support its Enhancing the Mission: Beeson Divinity School and Thriving Pastors program. The program aims to help pastors thrive in congregational leadership by improving the quality of mentoring and peer relationships for pastors, especially during seasons of transition in life and ministry. Led by a faculty director and associate director, the program will: 1) organize pastoral peer groups for Beeson alumni to meet monthly for fellowship, prayer, and vocational development; and 2) host conferences and workshops for pastors to address leadership challenges encountered in specific ministry settings and transitions. Such settings include church plants or revitalizations and bi-vocational settings. Initially the program leadership will focus on three ministry transitions: 1) new pastors in the first five years in ministry; 2) clergy making a transition from assistant/associate roles to lead/senior pastor roles; and 3) pastors enduring various kinds of trauma, tragedy, or other involuntary transitions. Through its established faculty and staff and growing alumni network, Beeson aims to serve churches by enriching and supporting their pastors. Program leadership and development officers will work with school and university administration to make the program sustainable in the coming years.
Gustavus Adolphus College, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), operates the Continuous Growth Pathway (CGP) program in partnership with the Southeastern and Southwestern Minnesota Synods of the ELCA. Since 2004 Gustavus and the synods have offered a clergy wellness resource called Pastor-to-Pastor. The CGP builds upon this successful program and significantly expands it to create a comprehensive leadership development structure for the ELCA rostered leaders of Southern Minnesota. The CGP program offers rostered leaders: 1) on-going leadership development and mentoring opportunities sensitive to their tenure in ordained ministry to help them engage in a more focused professional development strategy; and 2) additional leadership support resources and focus for those serving congregations in rural, multicultural, and pioneering contexts to help them gain greater understanding and clarity about ministry in these particular settings. The CGP includes opportunities for rostered leaders to conduct self-assessments and professional inventories, participate in peer-to-peer small group opportunities, build relationships with mentors, receive spiritual direction and pursue advanced leadership development. To sustain the program, rostered leaders participating in the CGP pay an annual membership fee and the CGP appeals directly to congregations and individuals for financial support and shares a portion of the program costs with the synods. Membership in the CGP is limited to rostered leaders serving in the Southern Minnesota Synods of the ELCA.