COMMUNITAS | Pastoral Leadership Program

The COMMUNITAS pastoral leadership 程序 honors early career pastors and supports them in their development as leaders who can guide their congregations toward becoming significant agents for positive change in their communities. The 程序 selects twelve pastors from the greater 洛杉矶地区 who have completed approximately five to fifteen years of full-time ministry and who have demonstrated high potential for significant leadership. 他们参加 in a series of retreat-seminars over a one year period that brings them into conversation with business, political and 社区 leaders and with Pepperdine faculty who have particular expertise related to pressing social and economic issues in the greater 洛杉矶地区.

目标与愿景

• 构建 early career pastors' organizational and civic leadership skills.
• 要了解 early career pastors with the systemic causes and implications of such 社区 challenges in the greater 洛杉矶地区 as poverty, health care, mental health education, and environmental issues.
• 要启用 early career pastors to develop support networks with 其他 pastors as well as with important business and civic leaders and policymakers in the greater 洛杉矶地区.
• 开发 a network of younger congregational leaders who will be equipped to engage these important issues practically and theologically and who can share their knowledge and expertise with 其他 faith and civic communities in our area.

We utilize the expertise and research of Pepperdine faculty and their established connections to civic leaders and advocates to build a network of pastors who will continue to exchange ideas and best practices after participation in the leadership 程序. Additionally, we envision these graduates of the 程序 as mentors to younger pastors beginning their careers.

项目历史

In early 2013, 365买球靠谱 was approached by the 礼来基金公司., a private philanthropic organization headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, committed to education, 社区 development, and especially, to deepening and enriching the religious lives of American Christians by helping to strengthen local congregations. 一个 of the 倡议s reflecting this mission is their Early Career Pastoral Leadership 倡议.

For most pastors the five- to ten-year period of ministry signals a crucial time of transition into a new stage of leadership. They have learned the basics of ministerial practice, often serving in the role of assistant or associate pastor and are now preparing to move into the senior pastorate, where they will shoulder the responsibility for shaping an entire congregation. The Lilly Endowment Early Career Pastoral Leadership 倡议 is designed to help meet these new responsibilities in young pastors' lives by enhancing their leadership skills, deepening their engagement with significant issues facing their communities, building networks with civic, business, and political leaders in their communities, and developing a strong 社区 of support with each 其他.

The pilot 程序, conducted at Wabash College, showed dramatic success in terms of pastors' personal growth, leadership abilities, and the support communities they formed 彼此之间. Building on that success, Lilly identified a select group of colleges and universities that were uniquely suited to developing their own pastoral leadership 程序. From among this group, Pepperdine was selected to participate in future 程序ming due to its 位置, academic resources, and commitment to the integration of faith 和学习.