Ministry Development and Support

Effective ministers have "the urge to grow." How are you growing?

Assessing Ministry

When Better Isn't Enough: Evaluation Tools for the 21st Century
by Jill M. Hudson.
Available from the Alban Institute.

The same old ways of being church, the same old ways of getting things done no longer work very well, even when pastors and congregations work harder at them than ever before. This is true of the ways we deal with staff evaluations in congregations. Jill Hudson argues, We must identify new criteria for success, and perhaps even for faithfulness, and hold ourselves accountable to them. Hudson identifies 12 characteristics by which we can measure effective ministry for the early 21st century. Rather than do an annual evaluation of each individual staff person, Hudson suggests that congregations engage in an evaluation of the ministry in which the entire church is involved.

• Ministry Development Centers provide vocational testing and counseling for candidates and ministers.
• Assess your role during difficult discussions — Use an Instant Replay form with a trusted colleague. The form will help you identify ways to impact difficult discussions by changing your own behavior.
• Based on those 12 criteria, Hudson has created evaluation tools, an early measuring stick to help congregations evaluate their work in this new era. By faithfully listening for Gods guidance and carefully evaluating progress using Hudsons tools, looking at the ministry of the whole people of God as well as that of the professional staff, congregations can improve their ministry, help members and staff grow in effectiveness, deepen a sense of partnership, and add new richness to the dialogue about the congregations future.

Continuing Education— Lifelong Learning in Ministry

• Continuing Education
  • Faith and Wisdom
  • Presbyterian Seminaries
  • Interim Pastor Training
• Sabbatical Leave
• Continuing Education Scholarship
  Sign up to receive the application.
• Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation, seeks to strengthen Christian congregations by providing an opportunity for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection. Renewal periods are not vacations, but times for intentional exploration and reflection, for drinking again from God's life-giving waters, for regaining enthusiasm and creativity for ministry.
• The Louisville Institute encourages a broad, collaborative conversation among academics, pastors, and other religious leaders about American religious life. Religious leaders need ready access to the findings of scholars that can help them address more adequately the complex challenges of contemporary ministry. For their part, scholars need to hear pastors and laypersons speak of these challenges, and they need to incorporate these distinctive perspectives in their own work. Conversation among them should result in both better-informed scholars and better-equipped pastors. Such a conversation is most likely to be fruitful when the questions under discussion are of urgent importance to the churches.
• Resourcing Pastors
  Need a refreshment break? Interested in a sabbatical or a study leave? Try a Sabbath Leave through Samford University's Resorce Center for Pastoral Excellence, tailored to fit your availability and your personal and professional needs. Download more information.

  

  

• The Development Center works in the areas of leadership, organizational, and personal development."
• Professional Organizations for Ministers
• Clergy Support Groups
• The Clergy Spouse Support Ministries

  

• Presbytery Pastoral Care Network A network of persons responsible for care of church professionals in their presbytery.
• Best Practices for the Pastoral Care of Ministers

• Models for the Pastoral Care of Ministers

  

• Resources for Self-Care — Presbytery of Denver

  

• Vocational Discernment and Ministry Support. The Plains Institute is a private center for organizational consulting, personal coaching, spiritual direction, training and research.
• The Louisville Institute is a Lilly Endowment program based at Louisville Seminary supporting those who lead and study American religious institutions. The Louisville Institute will award Sabbatical Grants for Pastoral Leaders of $10,000 (eight weeks) and $15,000 (twelve weeks). These grants will provide the time and occasion for as many as 60 pastoral leaders to devote an extended season to prayer, study and reflection for the renewal of their vocations.
• Ministry to Military—Have you seen them lately in the stores, the schools, and throughout the community? The families of Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard military members are all around us. They could be your neighbors! As increasing numbers of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard people are being deployed throughout the world, the ongoing threat to them is felt deeply and painfully by their family members back home. Learn what your church can do.

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