The Ministry Collaborative Podcast: Highlights from Our First Year
Periodically, we need a reminder of why we write this blog and what our hopes are for church boards. A recent report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) serves as just such a reminder. The PRRI report announced its findings last week with the headline:...
The musical Wicked, which is both a prequel and sequel to The Wizard of Oz, tells the story of two unlikely friends, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch), and their relationship struggles through opposing personalities and viewpoints. In one...
It’s a trap, especially for church boards. When people come back to worship post-pandemic, then we will be able to feel a vitality again. When we get the right pastor, then things can begin to fire on all cylinders. When these troublesome members leave, then we can finally...
Program Director Adam Borneman speaks again with Elizabeth Lynn (Lake Institute on Faith and Giving) about the changing trends in philanthropy, how that relates to religious communities, and how churches are uniquely situated in relation to valuable resources. Visit here to see the Faithful Generosity Story...
Church boards know this. In your faith community… Not everyone speaks with the same history. Not everyone speaks at the same volume. Not everyone speaks with the same frequency. Certainly, not everyone speaks with the same agenda(!). And, if we are honest, not everyone speaks with the same commitment, spiritual...
Reeling from the impact of the Highland Clearances, early nineteenth-century Highland Scots were desperate to find a way to connect their region’s numerous Lochs (lakes) to provide seamless water transportation for commercial goods—both to stem the tide of emigration and to nurture a new economy....
In American culture, Memorial Day usually signals a different routine. Not just more activities outdoors, but a little less intensity indoors … in the workplace, and in church as well. For a church board, so much of the year is taken up with tasks that...
Maybe there was a time, decades ago, when serving on a church board meant that you could pretty much guess what folks in your congregation needed and what you should try to provide for them. Maybe. But realistically, ministry today (as probably then) is practiced on a...
Signs of post-Easter and summer’s promise seem to be everywhere in churches now – including, we imagine, in the changing rhythms of your church board. The planning, the work, the worry, the decisions that have consumed your board’s time and energy throughout the “program year” are...
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I was the Facilitator for the first New York City cohort, and at the time, I was working in theological education on Christian leadership formation, so it seemed like a natural fit. What I discovered, though, was something quite different from my “day job.” While the content and topics of the curriculum was a crucial part of our gatherings, it was the community of mutual care and support that made the content relevant, not the other way around. And second, having three years of strong bonding created an extraordinarily resilient community that, in turn, was able to build up resilience in our leaders. I think every member of my cohort went through significant seasons of both joy and heartache, professionally and vocationally, during our time. And the cohort, in turn, lived out the exhortation of Romans 12:15, “rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep,” with a depth and integrity that I have rarely experienced, and often doing both in the same gathering. It was a privilege and a blessing to me and my own faith and ministry to be their facilitator, and I am eternally grateful to the Ministry Collaborative for calling me to that work!”
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was unique to my particular situation. It was needed, appreciated and healing. It was affirming. Most valuable was the unspoken understanding of what we all were facing in our ministry context. There was a sense that we could finish each other’s sentences. Solidarity and empathy.”
Graduation Date:
May 23, 2021
“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It was unique to my particular situation. It was needed, appreciated and healing. It was affirming. Most valuable was the unspoken understanding of what we all were facing in our ministry context. There was a sense that we could finish each other’s sentences. Solidarity and empathy.”
Graduation Date:
May 23, 2021
“I truly looked forward to this every week. The discussion topics, activities, and small group conversations were all very rich and meaningful. This experience gave me space to reflect on what’s happening right now in my congregation and community. It helped me to think about what might be next in my own ministry. It offered some very concrete ways I might work on equipping leaders in my congregation. I really enjoyed meeting colleagues from different places, denominations, and contexts–and learning from their experiences and reflections. I also appreciated hearing further conversation and reinforcement in the podcasts.”
Graduation Date:
July 14, 2021
“The experience was, in one word, enriching. It was timely as well. I was at a critical point in my own ministry and this literally breathed life back into me. The time went by so fast that I didn’t even realize two months had passed. To be able to share that type of camaraderie with other preachers, and realize that my struggles are not isolated, was liberating.”
Graduation Date:
March 18, 2021
“It was great to find confirmation and affirmation of my ministry through the voices of other pastors. I particularly enjoyed the focused time on talking about each of us as individuals and pastors, and not so much on what our churches look like.”
Graduation Date:
January 31st, 2020