Project Directory

Fourth Episcopal District A.M.E. Church (Fourth District) seeks a five-year grant for partial support for its Thriving in Ministry Initiative project, an effort to strengthen mentoring to aid current and future pastoral leaders in building relationships with seasoned clergy.  The project addresses two areas of professional transition for pastoral leadership.  First, the Fourth District’s senior leadership and Board of Ministerial Training faculty will receive mentoring training and then mentor new candidates for ordained ministry as they transition into their first pastorate.  Second, in partnership with Payne Theological Seminary, pastors who desire to shift their ministry from a more inward focused approach to a community engagement model of ministry will receive training to mentor other colleagues in the annual conference.  The Center for the Church in the Black Experience at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary will help identify existing resources and develop new ones, including online and virtual mentoring opportunities to enhance pastoral leaders’ skills in community engagement.  The Fourth District will incorporate project activities into its ongoing operations and operating budget.

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.

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.

The University of Dubuque Theological School, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), requests a five-year grant to establish the Clergy Coaching in Community and Context program, a set of three related initiatives that will support 75 to 90 pastoral leaders in the formation of revitalizing peer and mentor relationships, excellent pastoral habits and leadership skills and equip them to articulate a personal vision for their vocation and ministry. Each of the three initiatives will form a community for either new pastors, midcareer pastors or pastors engaged in innovative missional ministries. Modeled after successful high-performance sports coaching approaches that utilize both directive and nondirective coaching, each initiative will place participants in a coaching/mentoring relationship. Participant groups will be lead through explorations of wise and effective pastoral leadership habits and practices. The pastors also will develop sustaining relationships with each other and become part of a wider community of clergy committed to the pursuit of excellence in pastoral ministry. The theological school is exploring various ways of embedding program elements into sustainable initiatives including incorporate program elements into its doctor of ministry degree program, targeted alumni engagement, and new partnerships.

George Fox University seeks a five-year grant for its Portland Seminary to launch the Institute for Pastoral Thriving.  This effort will build one-year peer cohorts of eight to twelve pastors each to foster authentic relationships, offer safe spaces for exploring pastoral leadership challenges, nurture spiritual disciplines, and provide a network of allies to support their own thriving in ministry.  The Institute will directly address challenges to pastoral thriving, particularly professional transitions and the rapidly changing demographics of the Pacific Northwest.  It also will offer an annual symposium for all cohorts to gather as a larger body alongside the seminary community with the intent to foster fruitful conversations regarding pastoral spiritual renewal.  To sustain this project, George Fox University will seek funding from denominations and congregations and provide advanced standing credit in the seminary degree programs for project participants.

North Park Theological Seminary’s Thriving in Ministry grant is focusing on three main areas: Thriving Prophetically, Thriving Spiritually, and Thriving Vocationally. Our goal is to develop and implement programs and initiatives that will support our pastors in these key areas of their ministry. We intend to do this by: Developing peer-mentoring programs; Providing opportunities for pastors to explore the connection between their pastoral calling and social issues facing the church and world today, and; Creating continuing education opportunities for trained spiritual directors who are either themselves pastors or are providing spiritual direction to pastors, helping them enhance their interior life. To fulfill this goal we are committed to working with our pastors to determine how best we can serve them in reaching this goal and ensuring that the efforts we invest in through this grant will have a long lasting impact on the ability of our pastors to thrive in ministry.