The Ministry Collaborative Podcast: Highlights from Our First Year
The Ministry Collaborative is committed to developing pastors, ministry leaders, and congregations for creative leadership. Our focus isn’t simply on “skilling up.” Rather, we recognize and seek to address the need for growth at a much deeper level where things like sustainability, adaptivity, and intuition...
This week’s prompt, once again, focuses on the tension most ministry contexts face as they discern what elements of ministry are fundamental, “anchoring,” and worth sustaining (at least for now!), and what elements might need to be adjusted, shifted, or even dropped. This type of...
Like many others, TMC is acutely interested in how leadership models are rapidly evolving, what this requires, and what it might mean for the future of ministry more broadly. A key component in this exploration revolves around spiritual maturity, wisdom, and faithfulness. Developing leaders who...
We asked several dozen ministry leaders from around the country to respond to some key questions TMC has been engaging with in recent months. For the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing with you their perspectives and insights. Through these responses, we hope you encounter...
Dear Friends, The Peace of Christ be with you all. In view of this past weekend’s display of political violence and the continually mounting tensions in many of your congregations and communities, we wanted to share this brief meditation penned by Howard Thurman in his Meditations...
Over the last few weeks, our team has shared with you several signs and examples of vitality we’re seeing in ministry contexts nationwide. With such a diverse network (approximately 1600 pastors, 24 denominations, a majority people of color), it’s a joy to witness surprising movements of...
Ministry is incredibly – and increasingly – complex. Let’s name this and own it. AND let’s keep going. There’s too much at stake, and your calling to ministry matters. It’s having a ripple effect that will extend beyond what you assume or imagine. You’re planting...
“Look well to the growing edge. All around us worlds are dying and new worlds are being born; all around us life is dying and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of...
Your Perspective, Insights, and Witness Make a Difference TMC thrives on listening to and learning from you – ministry leaders, TMC cohort facilitators, and other conversation partners across the country – who continually provide deep insights, alternative perspectives, and imagination that helps us discern where the...
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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