Project Directory

Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO) is excited to have been awarded a five-year grant for its interdenominational Thriving in Ministry initiative: Spaces for Thriving: Cultivating Authentic Pastors for Small Membership Churches and Communities of Color program. The program seeks to help pastors serving small membership churches and communities of color flourish in ministry and vocation. The goals of our project are to improve pastoral thriving through attention to holistic well-being, authenticity in vocation, and connections to fellow pastors through collegial mentoring and interdenominational small clergy peer groups. A key characteristic of our program is the formation of cohorts of 8-12 persons committed to building supportive relationships with other clergy for two years, based on contextual interests and needs. Alongside these clergy peer groups, MTSO will offer educational engagement for mutual learning, spaces for retreat, and opportunities for spiritual renewal, including conferences that create spaces for growth in knowledge and practice that supports long-term pastoral thriving and insights for communal resilience in a time of rapid change, persistent stress, chronic trauma, and protracted moral injury.