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The mission and purpose of the Iron Sharpens Iron Initiative is to equip pastors, at all stages in their ministry, with the tools needed to navigate and manage the diverse spiritual, physical, psychological and practical leadership challenges they face on a day-to-day basis.

The Alabama Florida Episcopal District is a geographic jurisdictional region of the A.M.E. Zion Church. It includes all of Alabama and Florida and portions of Georgia and Mississippi. Within the bounds of the District, there are 330 ministers, with 223 (67%) serving as pastors. We share a desire to help our pastors build relationships with experienced clergy who can mentor them through critical challenges in their ministerial life. Our planning project confirmed the needs of our pastors for mentoring, coaching, counseling and professional development. We need to give our senior pastors more opportunities to exercise their spiritual gifts in mentoring and coaching new pastors and pastors launching new churches. To that end, we have designed a five-year project that will provide mentoring, coaching, counseling, peer-to-peer support groups, pastoral retreats, workshops, seminars and succession planning. We have included formative and summative evaluation at multiple intervals throughout the project, as well as a dedicated team that will work on the sustainability of this initiative beyond the five-year implementation project.

Together, we will create a supportive foundation and structured network to renew the faith of pastors by enabling a conversation about identity, purpose, meaning and legacy-producing activities. University of the Ozarks, founded on the frontier two years before Arkansas’s statehood by the Presbyterian congregation, serves rural, first-generation and historically under-represented students and is uniquely positioned to implement a Thriving in Ministry Grant in service to pastors. The challenges of life seem to have narrowed, or possibly even hobbled, the agency of many pastors. We strive to rejuvenate, revitalize and refresh our colleagues. The goals of the initiative come from the pastors’ own words.

• Create a structured way for pastors to clarify their calling and align their teams to serve communities
• Develop a robust and comprehensive leadership training that meets pastors where they are, including training for teams from each of the congregations as appropriate
• Facilitate renewed communal and individual connection to the heart of the Gospel
• Create opportunities to learn to become a unifying force in the community
• Develop a more thorough understanding of “rural” from a sociological perspective, seeing communities, no matter how small, as asset-rich

The University of Mount Olive is home to The Mantle Bearers Project (MBP), an initiative designed to create a system of support for clergy in their first ten years of ministry, as well as create learning and development opportunities for seasoned clergypersons. Through the framework of 1 Kings 19, we believe that God is calling us to train both the Elijah and the Elisha, the mentor and mentee. The MBP seeks to identify and train seasoned (thriving) clergy, in order for them to become mentors and facilitators of less-seasoned clergy. This project will also recruit and develop peer-to-peer networks of rural, small-congregation clergypersons who are serving in their first ten years of ministry. These formative years, according to previous findings, can be highly unstable if one does not have the presence of a stable mentor. Peer-to-peer cohorts will run annually, and upon completion, participants will be moved into a one-to-one coaching relationship with a certified coach. It is the goal of the MBP to create a minimum of 12 diverse peer-to-peer cohorts in eastern North Carolina over the next five years, and to train at least 25 clergy to become thriving mentors among rural, small-congregation settings.

Union Baptist Church, in the Village of Harlem, New York (Rev. BD Scott, Pastor), is home to The R.E.A.L. Black Women in Ministry THRIVE (REAL BWIM THRIVE 50) FELLOWS: a 4-year, national, personal, pastoral and professional formation and development mentorship cohort, specifically designed for 26 Black women Senior pastors to mentor 26 Black women in ministry who are newer to ministry, but who have the desire to serve in parish ministries, for enhancement, advancement and placement in parish ministry. Through sharing resources, opportunities and networking, intentional attention is placed on strengthening current senior pastors, planting new pastors, and creating a succession of next-generation Black female leaders, equipped, exposed, and ready to be 21^st-century leaders, both in person and virtually.

Union Baptist Church is also the home of the Grant program Director, Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, who was the first woman licensed and ordained in the Christian ministry there, and who later went on to direct the first Black women in ministry program of the Lilly Endowment, and also become the first Black woman pastor in the 200-year history of the American Baptist Churches, USA.

In cohort format, through prayer, personal and group interaction, video recordings, journaling, presentations, social media instruction, mentoring, guest speakers, retreats and monthly Sister Sessions, this initiative allows participants to enjoy their creativity and their journeys, as whole and healthy leaders.

Representing 11 different denominations and from 11 different cities, we have already seen growth, reduction of stress and a hunger for interaction and learning. Most of all, a new sisterhood has developed for pastors who had been in isolation, serving congregations of color in America’s urban cities. They know they are not alone and thank the Lilly Endowment for this amazing opportunity.

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.

Transformation Ministries (TM), based in Southern California, is a covenanting association of churches (Baptist and Non-Denominational Christian) which seeks to bring about the transformation of communities by helping churches thrive. Diverse in size, location, and ethnicity, TM consists of over 200 congregations in fourteen states and Northern Mexico. TM maintains geographic hubs in California, Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Florida, and Mexico.

TM exists to build a movement of mission-empowering relationships by: deepening and developing pastors as spiritual leaders; coaching and networking churches together to improve church health and missional vitality; and supporting and initiating viable church planting partnerships.

These three core competencies are wrapped together in a highly relational manner that eliminates isolating tendencies and builds teamwork: “we are stronger and healthier together.” TM invests and commits to the leaders God has gifted, called, and placed to lead the Church.

TM’s Thriving in Ministry Initiative will address challenges faced by “church planters” in their inaugural period of ministry. TM will identify 50 pastors of new church plants and provide them with comprehensive, wrap-around services from the initial calling assessment through ultimate establishment of a sustainable local church.

The purpose of the SHIFT Leadership Network is to provide specialized training, guidance and support for early career pastors and persons who are matriculating through the Board of Ministerial Training. SHIFT is an acronym for Supportive, Healthy Innovations for Thriving in Ministry. The program is intended to guide and support each minister/pastor as he or she creates and carries out a dynamic individualized three-year learning experience. Learning will take place on multiple levels, including mentoring, group sharing, training, evaluating and planning. After acceptance, each minister/pastor will propose an individualized learning contract that will address four areas: spiritual formation; emotional maturity; leadership skills; sub-cultural sensitivity and mental models of systems and change processes.

Cultivating Enough in the Care of Clergy is a two-year program for pastors who are serving small churches, churches in communities of color, and church plants and re-plants. Part of the Presbytery of Philadelphia’s Ministry and Leadership Incubator, this program is based upon the conviction that healthy leaders shape healthy congregations. The program uplifts a “theology of enough” both within the pastors and these contexts, which are often under-resourced and with their leaders facing burnout. Through cohorts of 10-12 pastors each, participants intentionally focus on “being enough, practicing enough, and offering enough” by being resourced through regular small group gatherings, retreats, deep rest, and one-on-one support. After completing the program, pastors are encouraged to be resources for incoming cohorts, spurning a larger culture of wellness within the named contexts of the presbytery by nurturing a connectional spirit alongside their peers of pastors. Inspiring pastors in these particular settings encourages health and vitality among these congregations in order to better transform their communities with the love and justice of the good news of Jesus Christ.

The PLNU Center for Pastoral Leadership is excited about the potential to further its mission to resource pastors and partner with them in ministry through the Ministerial Coaching Initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to provide professional developmental coaching to church-planting pastors, pastors serving small-membership churches and pastors serving congregations serving communities of color. Through a personal and cohort coaching model, encouraging peer-to-peer connection and resourcing between pastors, this initiative provides tailored training that addresses the specific leadership challenges these pastors encounter. We hope to help pastors navigate the unprecedented challenges they face today with congruence, authenticity and courage.

The Philander Smith College Thriving in Ministry program supports pastors leading congregations of color in primarily rural and urban settings. Our goal is to provide pastors with essential space to nurture their gifts in a supportive environment, guided by those who are effective and flourishing in ministry. The program is built around three areas of emphasis for current and aspiring pastors: mentoring relationships, personal wellbeing, and continuing education. We come alongside pastors as they work to develop pastoral agency, form mentoring relationships, increase their foundational knowledge and skills, and engage in self-care. Program participants can expect to be provided with essential space to nurture their gifts. The program also seeks to offer opportunities to deepen skills in study and vocational preparation. Periodically, participants will enjoy opportunities for retreat and refreshing to build healthy, collegial, supportive mentoring relationships among pastoral leaders. Special attention will be given to help pastors enhance management, business, and leadership skills. The Philander Smith College Thriving in Ministry program is designed as cohort-driven. Participants engage, connect, and grow together in safe and confidential groups.