Below are our courses currently being offered:

“A POSITION OF TRUST” This is our basic boundary training class suitable for active authorized ministers, persons seeking ordination, and seminarians. Topics covered: Basics of Boundaries; Power and Vulnerability; Transference, Ego, & Roles; Healthy Communication; Confidentiality & Disclosure; Social Media Best Practices; Red Flags of Unhealthy Ministry Relationships; Personal Ethics - Sexual Boundaries & Dual Relationships, Financial Responsibility; Personal Safety for Self and Family; Healthy Ministry Staff Relationships; and, Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities for Clergypersons. 9 hours. This course can be delivered online on live Zoom or in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing, videos, and take-away resources.

“PREACHING AND PASTORING IN THE PURPLE CHURCH: CALMING THE CHAOS” This is a specialty class for active ministers who are currently serving or curious about what it is like to serve as a pastor in a politically diverse congregation. Team-taught with nationally known homiletics professor, Rev. Richard F. Ward, PhD, topics for exploration are: Power from the Pulpit; Narrative Preaching as an Invitational Resource in Divided Times; Convening the Sacred Conversation & Creating Sacred Space; Building and Keeping Trust with Congregants Through the Exercise of Healthy Boundaries; Recognizing & Pastoring in a Culture of Unhealthy Communication Tendencies; and, Resources for Personal Study, Reflection, and Cohort Building. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for sharing sermon and boundaries experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS & RETIRED MINISTERS” This class is designed as refresher boundary training for retired ministers still involved in congregational life. Whether retired ministers are engaged in interim, bridge, or transitional ministry, occasional pulpit supply and/or special worship service leadership, or are simply pew parishioners in their prior congregation or a new one, the exercise of healthy boundaries, ethics, and self-care practices are still important for retired clergy. For most denominational committees on ministry, this course satisfies a retired minister’s periodic boundary training requirement. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: POWER & VULNERABILITY” Ministry relationships all live within the dynamic of the question, “Who has power in this situation, and who is vulnerable?” This class explores these concepts and their relationship, power from the pulpit and ministerial office, over-functioning in the pastoral role and the threat of clergy burnout, trust-building, protection of vulnerable persons, and how to recognize and respond to overbearing situations and personalities in ministry settings. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: CHURCH SAFETY FOR CHILDREN, MINORS, AND VULNERABLE ADULTS” This training is intended for pastors, youth and children’s ministers, and care & nurture teams. This class will cover ethics, dual relationships, and safe practices regarding children and minors, power & vulnerability concerning aging congregants, and Mandatory Reporting requirements for suspected Child or Vulnerable Adult Abuse or Neglect. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: MINISTRY BURNOUT & SELF-CARE” This class is suitable for active ministers and a separate class can be facilitated for lay ministry leaders with directed content depending on the class demographic. From a family systems perspective, we seek together to identify the red flags of ministry burnout, resources to meet the threat of ministry exhaustion, and the preventative benefits of self-care. Participants may refer to my Christian Century article, “Clergy Burnout: Whose Responsibility Is It?” (November 2020) https://www.christiancentury.org/article/recommendations/whose-problem-clergy-burnout. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: PERSONAL ETHICS AND DUAL RELATIONSHIPS” The focus of this workshop is on the dual relationships that derail healthy ministries when power & vulnerability dynamics become unbalanced: sexual misconduct, financial responsibility, doing business with congregants, transference, counter-transference, and roles, personal integrity, and trust-building. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: COVENANT AND PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY” This class is about the “why” of professional accountability and formal and informal ethical review of ministerial conduct. We discuss the importance of covenant in the congregational call system, personal and professional ethics, and the resources available for wider church intervention in red flag” ministries. This class does not take the place of Situational Support or Fitness Review training provided by denominational sources. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: COMMUNICATION, CONFIDENTIALITY, AND INFORMATION DISCLOSURES” This workshop identifies the hallmarks of healthy congregational discourse and the red flags of unhealthy communication patterns, offers a sample community behavioral covenant as well as healthy responses to these unhealthy patterns. Also included is a discussion of pastoral confidentiality and its limits, as well as suggestions regarding public disclosures of sensitive congregational information. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: THE GOOD GOODBYE” This class is for the pastor and congregation or other ministry setting when a separation of the pastor from the community is imminent or has recently taken place. Content includes why a “good goodbye” is important, the boundaries around separation and disconnection from the ministry community, how to plan for and host farewell gatherings, debriefing sessions with church leadership, the final church service, grief management for the pastor and the pastor’s congregants, and social media responsibility. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: GRAY AREAS OF MINISTRY PRACTICE” This is an advanced class for ministers and lay leaders who have taken our basic boundary training class. It is a deeper dive into ministerial ethics, social media use, dual relationships, and ministerial power. This class can be personalized to address specific topics as requested by the students or wider church entities. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: SUPEREGO - TAMING YOUR INNER CRITIC” This workshop is offered to anyone who struggles to calm the negative voice in their head that tells them they are not good enough, intelligent, successful, or capable. We will explore what the SuperEgo is, where it comes from, how it has protected you in your childhood, and how to set it aside now that you are an adult with other resources. 2 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: THE PASTORAL RELATIONS TEAM” This workshop will explain why a Pastoral Relations Team is an excellent and necessary resource for receiving, holding, and managing church conflicts, the pastor’s vulnerabilities, and parishioner concerns. We will show you how to create and populate the Team, how to keep it healthy, and how to maintain its integrity in troubled or anxious times. 2 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: FINANCIAL SAFETY & RESPONSIBILITY FOR PASTORS AND CONGREGATIONS” This class explores with participants the ethics of church financial management, the pastor’s duties and boundaries in relationship to gifts and gift-giving, stewardship and pledging, and their personal financial life, capital campaigns, and how to keep the financial life of the church safe. This class is good for pastors, church lay leaders, and church officers, especially financial secretaries and treasurers. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.

“HEALTHY MINISTRY RELATIONSHIPS: SPECIALIZED TOPICS IN MINISTRY” This workshop explores the following topics: healthy church conflict resolution & staff relationships; personal safety issues; boundaries around the pastor’s family life and family members; racial, gender, & sexual orientation awareness; and Mandatory Reporting of suspected child or adult abuse or neglect. This class is appropriate for pastoral and administrative staff, worship leaders, church lay leaders, and congregants. 3 hours. This course is delivered online on live Zoom, but it is also effective when delivered in person. It is interactive and engaging, providing a combination of lectures, group case studies, breakout sessions for community building and sharing ministry experiences, and take-away resources.