Denver Seminary, a nondenominational, evangelical school, requests a five-year grant for partial support for its Soul Care Initiative (SCI) program, an effort that seeks to provide spiritual renewal, physical rest and a supportive community for local Denver pastors. Focusing on executive-level pastors, the seminary will form cohorts of 20 to 30 clergy each who will gather regularly for nine months for facilitated monthly retreats, individual spiritual direction and personal prayer practices. In addition, the seminary will offer periodic retreats during pivotal seasons of the liturgical church calendar for alumni of the SCI program and other clergy throughout the Denver area. The aim is to cultivate a wider network of pastoral leaders who support one another in their ministries. To sustain this program, Denver Seminary will seek individual and corporate donors, church partnerships and sponsorships with organizations supporting pastoral leaders.
The University of the South (Sewanee), affiliated with the Episcopal Church, seeks a five-year grant for its Thriving in Ministry Mentoring Network and Continuing Education Program. Based at the university’s School of Theology, the program seeks to facilitate effective collaborative mentoring for clergy serving rural communities, clergy in Latino ministries, clergy in African-American ministries, and clergy with nontraditional theological educations. The pastors will meet annually at Sewanee to receive training in the mentoring model and in topics of particular interest to the participants. Throughout each year, conveners in each group will facilitate ongoing group reflection on pastoral leadership through online discussions, conference calls and in-person meetings. Sewanee will establish and actively manage an online network to allow for further communication within and among mentoring groups between annual summits. To sustain this effort, Sewanee’s development office will solicit contributions from donors and charge participants modest fees.
Central Baptist Theological Seminary, an American Baptist school, seeks a five-year grant for partial support for its Formed for Flourishing: Mentoring Toward Effective and Healthy Leadership program. This endeavor seeks to connect experienced pastors with new clergy and those transitioning to new ministry settings to help them understand their congregational contexts more deeply and strengthen their leadership skills. The pastors will engage in mentoring for a two-year period to build relationships and sharpen each other’s pastoral skills: the first year in groups and the second year one on one. Beyond the grant cycle, Central will launch Formed for Flourishing into regional denominational partners utilizing program participants as leaders within their own congregational networks for both multiplication and sustainability.
Princeton Theological Seminary’s Iron Sharpening Iron program will equip women clergy with the capacities, agency, and savvy to negotiate challenging leadership contexts with a confidence that is born of competence. Its fundamental goal is to promote capable women to thrive in God’s calling in a way that has theological integrity and a sophisticated philosophy and practice. From the first group of disciples who gathered around Jesus, women have always been leaders in Christian communities. Yet women clergy are dramatically underrepresented in positions of leadership, and the church has made relatively little gain over the last decades in advancing gender equity among clergy at all levels of the profession, particularly at the most senior levels of congregational leadership. We will address this pressing issue by investing in gifted women leaders and providing access to cutting-edge leadership education. Princeton Seminary will convene faculty and practitioners from the church, non-profit, and business sectors to engage an interdisciplinary conversation about effective leadership and build a network of women leaders.
The Moravian Church Northern Province (MCNP) seeks a five-year grant for partial support of the Moravian Clergy Connections Project. Conducted in partnership with the Moravian Church Southern Province (MCSP), the project consists of four initiatives that will form Moravian pastors from throughout the United States through spiritual direction, coaching, mentoring, cohort groups, and an interprovincial retreat that brings clergy together for mutual learning and support. They will collaborate with Moravian Theological Seminary to develop educational components and with the Moravian Ministries Foundation in America to seek ongoing funding. To sustain the effort, the MCNP will use earnings from an endowed fund, and the MCSP will draw on proceeds of a recent estate gift. Their goal is to enhance clergy health and leadership to equip them to support one another and their congregations to be more vital agents of God’s transforming love in the world.
Western Seminary, affiliated with Conservative Baptist Association of America, seeks a five-year grant for partial support to launch the Center for Pastoral Flourishing program (CPF), an effort to nurture and support the long-term well-being of pastors in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. The program will focus on new pastors early in their service, emerging leaders stepping into larger pastoral leadership roles, mid-career pastors encountering transitions in settings or roles, and seasoned pastors looking to contribute to the emerging next generation. The CPF will identify and intentionally incorporate more pastors into its leadership networks, sponsor forums on leadership practices that foster and sustain flourishing in ministry, form pastors into peer cohorts, produce pastoral leadership resources for personal and group learning, and provide coaching for pastors and congregations. To sustain the CPF, Western Seminary will charge participants a nominal fee and seek funding from partners who share a commitment to strong pastoral leadership.
