The Ministry Collaborative Podcast: Highlights from Our First Year
Welcome to our once-a-year post that uses a sports metaphor. Some folks may be aware that major league baseball, following decades of declining interest and increasingly looonngg games, instituted several rule changes this season. One of these changes created a clock for pitchers and batters. ...
As the Church of Jesus Christ, what do we have to offer to the world? The whole world—those who packed your pews on Easter Day, those who really meant to get there, and those who couldn’t care less that we were celebrating the Day of...
Whenever your church board meets for the first time after this Easter Day, there is a good chance that hope will be echoing through the corridors of your church. That is Easter. Easter offers hope to the faithful. Easter does this in good years and...
In part one of this round table conversation, the Ministry Collaborative program staff (Beth Daniel, Mark Ramsey, Adam Mixon, Adam Borneman, and Jennifer Watley Maxell) talk about viewing the church as an airport rather than a destination, the difference between form and function, and the...
A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll conducted this month confirms and amplifies the air of uncertainty and anxiety pervading so many conversations – in and out of church – these days. When asked about their level of confidence that life for their children’s generation will be better...
A conversation last week with a group of pastors sounded a familiar theme. Although these pastors belong to different denominations, their refrain was the same when it comes to annual reports. “Why aren’t we ever asked to report on something that actually matters to a community...
I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 In a Denver-area congregation I served some years ago, there was a family who had come...
One hundred years ago this week, the poem that Robert Frost called “my best bid for remembrance” was published in The New Republic. Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of the best known and loved poems in American literature. Here it is...
Executive Director Mark Ramsey speaks with Dr. Heath Carter (Princeton Theological Seminary) about the future of American democracy, polarization, and the historical connections between Christianity and the American working class. ...
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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