The Benedictine Sisters of Cullman, Alabama, a Roman Catholic religious community grounded in the Benedictine tradition, seeks a five-year grant to support its Women at the Wellsprings: Drawing from Timeless Springs to Nourish Ministry Today program. Through this effort, the Benedictine Sisters will help ecumenical groups of women pastoral leaders thrive in their congregational leadership role by sharing with them the Benedictine values of hospitality and community and engaging them in the spiritual practices of prayer and hospitality from the Benedictine monastic tradition. The program will gather groups of women pastoral leaders five times in two and a half years for eight day sessions of worship, prayer, peer group reflection, presentations and rest. In addition, the pastoral leaders will develop a plan to engage in spiritual practices that they will implement when they return home. To sustain this effort after the grant period concludes, Benedictine Sisters will invite participants to raise funds through their congregations and denominations.
Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (SSW) seeks a five-year grant for its Thriving in Bi-Vocational Ministry program, an effort to support new and recently ordained bi-vocational clergy as they transition from being students in local diocesan schools to primarily part-time priests and deacons in congregations. SSW will form each year six or more peer cohorts comprising six bi-vocational clergy that will meet once in person and thereafter by group videoconferencing. Each cohort will be led by a team of experienced pastor-mentors and receive instruction to strengthen leadership practices in three areas: pastoral care; spiritual formation for individuals and congregations; and preaching. To sustain this effort, SSW will raise funds from participating dioceses, draw on earnings from its endowment and cultivate gifts from new donors.
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.
Virginia Union University seeks to launch a new effort to help pastors address major personal and professional challenges. Based in its Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology (STVU), the project will provide pastors with holistic self-care, mentorship and collegial relationships, and congregational and community support. STVU will develop peer support groups for pastors, set aside sacred spaces for pastors to engage in reflection and retreats, and build support at the congregational and community levels for pastors to seek out and receive help when necessary.
Luther Seminary seeks a four-year grant to establish its Leadership for Faithful Innovation project. This effort will form midcareer pastors into four peer learning communities that help them understand the changing culture, discover their own agency to create spaces of faithful adaptation and support their communities to engage in practices of learning and innovation. The clergy peer learning communities will meet for 18 months with mentors and coaches, after which the participating pastors will form and lead an additional 18-month learning community composed of lay leaders in their congregations to design and implement new ministries. Luther will gather a synodical leaders’ learning community to bring denominational leaders alongside the pastors and congregations to learn from them as they engage in reflective action. To sustain this project, Luther will develop a financial model that garners support from congregations and judicatories.
Benedictine Women of Madison, an ecumenical religious community, received a five-year grant to support its Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal program. This endeavor seeks to offer pastors in the early- and mid-stages of their careers the opportunity to experience spiritual renewal through immersions in Christian contemplative practices and the forming of supportive relationships with clergy peers. The pastors will participate in two immersions to experience the rhythms, people and sacred space of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Between immersions, pastors will stay connected to one another through video conference calls and a variety of leadership resources and activities sponsored by the Center. The Benedictine Women will sustain this program through partnerships with congregations and external organizations, grants, earnings from its endowment and modest participant fees.
