By Stephen Lewis-

What does it take to set the church loose on the world and agents of God’s healing and shalom? What kinds of leaders are necessary to lead that kind of church? What does it take to form leaders for that church?

Elizabeth Mitchell Clement, FTE Calling Congregations

Three years ago, a few colleagues and I began to wrestle with these questions.That wrestling has become a signature pastoral leadership development program for young clergy, Project Rising Sun (PRS). In these questions was an invitation to:

• re-imagine what church is and is becoming as the future unfolds—to imagine congregations longing to live into their vocation as transformative agents of God’s healing in the world;
• imagine the church as a grassroots leadership development organization that forms Christian disciples to live purposeful vocations; and
• imagine that the primary role of pastoral leaders is to cultivate vocation-driven lives that serve the world; to imagine what young pastors need to live into this image of pastoral leadership.

We also found this to be an opportunity to re-imagine post-seminary pastoral leadership formation and an invitation to explore the following three questions: What are the practices of well formed pastoral leaders? What do young clergypersons need to be formed well for faithful and effective ministry? Through Project Rising Sun, we explore these questions and others with young clergy on the formational journey to becoming excellent leaders. Drawing its name from James Weldon Johnson’s verse in Lift Every Voice and Sing —“Facing the rising sun of our new day begun”—, PRS is a two-year pastoral leadership academy for gifted young men and women from diverse backgrounds who represent the bright lights of the “new day” already begun in the church.

Developed out of the experiences and challenges of young pastors, PRS helps young clergy to build leadership capacity for faithful and effective leadership. The program is grounded in action-research which fosters a community of practitioners learning together through a reflective process of deep listening, team learning and collective action in specific leadership practices. Through this process, these pastoral leaders improve the way they address issues, create innovative solutions and shape the future of God’s reign.

Participants also re-imagine their role as leaders through the program. While there is some emphasis placed on the “What of pastoral leadership?,” the balance of PRS focuses on the “Who of pastoral leadership?” in three specific areas: personal/professional, congregational and community development. Young pastors who understand who they are and what motivates them can make choices regarding who they become; understanding provides an opportunity to imagine and re-imagine themselves and their work. The journey is not a straight line and these young leaders who commit to this kind of formation recognize that it is not for the faint of heart or the inflexible of will.

Through Project Rising Sun, FTE and our team of partners journeys with young pastors who possess the courage to imagine themselves as this kind of leader who will explore innovative ways to effectively lead the church into a vitally alternative future, facing the rising sun of our new day begun!

Stephen Lewis is the director of Project Rising Sun, an initiative of the Fund for Theological Education, in Atlanta, GA.