Project Directory

Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), a rapidly growing multiethnic denomination, seeks a five-year grant to support its Shaping, Strengthening and Sustaining Resiliency program, an effort to strengthen the leadership practices of pastors at different stages of their careers.  The program will begin by identifying outstanding pastors with 15 or more years of experience in ministry to form a “sustaining resiliency” cohort and become mentors for pastors who are in earlier stages of their careers.  The mentor-pastors will work with two cohorts of pastors; the first cohort will comprise midcareer pastors with six to 15 years of experience, and the second cohort will include pastors with five or fewer years of ministry.  The pastoral cohorts and their mentors will gather regularly for face-to-face retreats and maintain ongoing connections using online communication.  To sustain the program, ECC will share costs with its regional conferences and launch fundraising efforts to solicit contributions from donors.

Flourish San Diego exists to help the church of San Diego love her neighbors to life. Central to this effort is helping pastors, congregational leaders, and church planters navigate the adaptive challenges of leading in today’s environment. The Ministry of Thriving Initiative is a collection of programmatic offerings designed to support ministry leaders both professionally and personally. Professionally, Flourish San Diego offers learning environments to help leaders develop the missiological lens useful to clarifying congregational vision and mission. Personally, Flourish San Diego offers supportive environments designed to support the spiritual formation, well-being, and overall resilience of leaders in ministry.

The Flourish Collective Academy is the learning community designed to help pastors focus the efforts of their church, church plant, or ministry to contribute to the shalom of the city. Small group cohorts of pastors and church planters provide relational support in spiritual formation and peer coaching in the challenge of congregational culture. Workshops and webinars provide encouragement and direction with regard to the organizational change. A partnership with The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology will bring language and expertise around emotional intelligence and well-being. The Ministry of Thriving is designed to help both ministries and ministers thrive for the sake of a thriving city.

The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board of American Baptist Churches (MMBB), which serves nearly 18,000 pastors and religious leaders in more than 5,000 churches and faith-based organizations from more than 15 denominations and hundreds of independent churches, requests a five-year grant for the Bridges: Colloquia for Cultivating Ministry program.  Using the colloquium model, this program will bring together pastors to share with each other best leadership practices, reflect on key topics related to ministry challenges and transitions, and build relationships for personal and professional renewal. By fostering peer colleague relationships, the pastors will give each other support and guidance as well as accountability to foster higher levels of professional competence and well-being.  To sustain this program, MMBB will incorporate programming into its operating budget and seek funding from new donors and denominational partners.

The LiV program at Trevecca Nazarene University provides vital support for pastors in the transitions of the first five years of ministry: from education, to first placement, through the ordination process and into established ministry. The aim of the program is help pastors live (LiV) as complete persons, by promoting personal wellness (spiritually, physically and emotionally), by encouraging the development of interpersonal relationships (with a mentor, with other pastors and with lay leaders in the congregation) and by teaching the best practices for professional success through affinity group gatherings, context-based group mentoring programs and practical-skills workshops. Trevecca serves predominantly Nazarene churches in the southeast US. The title “Laborers in the Vineyard” (LiV) alludes to a phrase attributed to the Reverend J. O. McClurkan, the founder of Trevecca, who referred to the school as “a vine of God’s own planting.” The parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt. 20:1-15) is the account of a landowner who hires workers in the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 11th hours. At the end of the day, the landowner pays all the workers a daily living wage. The “Laborers in the Vineyard” program seeks to promote life for Christian laborers, especially those have arrived most recently to the field and who most need support to not only survive but thrive in ministry.

Catholic Theological Union (CTU) seeks a five-year grant for its Thriving in Ministry Initiative project, an effort to provide programs and resources for vowed religious and lay ecclesial ministers so that they will be proficient and confident leaders in the church.  Through this project, CTU will conduct critically needed research to determine the needs and challenges faced by vowed religious and lay ecclesial ministers currently working in many ministries in the Roman Catholic parishes in the United States.  This research will enable CTU to design and implement workshops and programming and to create resources that target the needs and challenges of today’s ministers.  The workshops will help participants develop plans to deepen their theological education and strengthen their leadership skills.  In addition, an annual symposium on priesthood will bring together professors of theology and researchers at Catholic graduate schools and seminaries to discuss the education and formation of religious priests in the United States.  To sustain this project, CTU will integrate the workshops and symposium into its ongoing operating budget.

Taylor University, a nondenominational school in the evangelical tradition, seeks a five-year grant for its Sacred Roots: Thriving in Ministry Project. This effort will form at least 20 locale-based pastoral mentoring groups for pastors serving congregations in under-resourced urban, rural and incarcerated communities to foster ministerial friendships and build relationships between new and experienced clergy. Working collaboratively with external partners, Taylor will host four consultations for pastors to identify potential mentors, collect best practices for leading under-resourced congregations and explore Christian classic literature in spirituality to find sources for pastoral nourishment and support. Facilitated by mentors and clergy recognized for their wisdom, the program will invite clergy to join peer cohorts of up to 10 pastors each to explore together leadership challenges posed by particular ministry contexts. Each session will focus on a guided reading from among 16 Christian spiritual classics identified at the opening consultation. To sustain this effort, Taylor’s development office will identify and solicit funding from individuals and partner organizations.