Overview
Pulpit & Pew is an interdenominational project aimed at strengthening
the quality of pastoral leadership (clergy and lay) in churches, parishes,
and other faith communities across America.
Key Questions
Twenty research projects are being undertaken to answer the following:
- What is the state of pastoral leadership at the new century's beginning?
What do current trends portend for the next generation?
- What is good pastoral leadership? Can we describe it? What is the
relation of good pastoral leadership to the ministry of all of God's
people? How has understanding of good pastoral leadership varied historically?
By denominational tradition? By congregational size and context?
How does good pastoral leadership come into being? What can be done to
enable it to come into being more frequently, and how can it be nurtured
and supported more directly?
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Types of Research
The key questions of the project are being addressed from a variety of
perspectives: biblical, historical, theological, sociological, economic,
media studies, and psychological. The projects use a variety of methods:
national surveys, phone interviews, focus groups, in-depth case studies,
summary of research studies, and small group discussion.
Geographically, the project is national. We have sought to be as inclusive
as possible in terms of Christian denominations and other religious traditions.
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Results
Research findings will be disseminated widely though print and electronic
publications. In undertaking the project, we anticipate at least the following
results:
- Clergy and their congregations will be helped by the project to re-read
their situations; learn to understand and respond to the adaptive challenges
that they face as leaders; and become reflective practitioners, able
to draw on the resources of the Christian tradition as they learn how
to adapt to changing circumstances in ways that are faithful to the
Gospel.
- Books, reports, and conferences will illumine both continuities in
pastoral leadership and the various ways that traditional patterns of
leadership are challenged by the changing social, cultural, and economic
context.
- Seminary faculties will accept the work of the project, give it standing,
and incorporate it into their curricula.
- The project will engage national and regional denominational leadership
throughout its life and involve them in serious reflection on the changing
nature of pastoral leadership.
- Denominations and other agencies that support pastoral leadership
will learn from the findings of the project and incorporate its insights
into the ways that they provide support and counsel to clergy and congregations.
- Congregations will be helped to think about their responsibility for
creating good pastoral leadership.
- The project will foster public discussion and debate about pastoral
leadership in the national media.
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Project Leadership
Two groups of church leaders and scholars are engaged in sustained conversation
about the research findings. The Church Leaders group and the Core Seminar
meet two to three times a year for seminars, conferences, and various
other forms of shared reflection on the research projects.
Core Seminar
The Core Seminar meets three times annually to assist the Project Staff
in broadening and deepening the central questions that the Project aims
to address. Together with the staff, they review existing knowledge about
pastoral leadership and engage in critical reflection on its future. The
participants in the Core Seminar are key persons in the areas of theological
education and religious leadership.
Core Seminar Participants
Church Leaders Group
A group of approximately forty church leaders meets twice yearly to assist
the Project Staff in identifying key issues regarding pastoral leadership,
review research reports created by Project researchers and provide critical
feedback, and assist with disseminating the research information within
their denominations. Participants in the Church Leaders group represent
Free Church, Reformed, Wesleyan, Sacramental (Protestant and Catholic),
and Pentecostal traditions, as well as African American and other ethnic
traditions.
Church Leader Participants
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