Journey

With the help of a grant from the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Program of Lilly Endowment, Inc., Western Theological Seminary's Center for the Continuing Education of the Church has initiated a pilot program for pastoral leaders called Journey Groups. The program is designed to initiate, mentor, and resource a pilot set of six Journey Groups over the next several years (from the present through 2006). The program is based on three fundamental convictions:

• learning happens with peers...it is not a solo activity
• learning unfolds on a shared path...it is not episodic or momentary
• congregations and pastors learn together...they do not learn independently

Journey Groups Defined

Journey Groups bring together five to seven pastors (or similar pastoral agents) who commit themselves to a learning covenant that focuses on a common learning journey within a particular field of ministerial identity and practice. Groups are formed by discovering persons who share a common growing edge in their ministries and have similar learning needs and goals at this juncture in their lives. Participation in the groups is further confirmed by identifying correspondence between the personal learning goals each pastor expresses and the current learning journey of the congregation or community in which he or she serves.

The actual aspects of ministry upon with the Journey Groups will focus their learning is not at all pre-determined. These will be dependent on the themes and areas identified as learning needs by the pool of applicants for the program. The following illustrations, drawn from the current experience of a number of pastors, may be suggestive of the kinds of challenges upon which groups might focus, offered here not to limit the possibilities but to open the imagination and stir discernment:

• responding to a dramatic shift in the ethnic makeup of the community surrounding the congregation�s worship meeting space.
• struggling with how to move beyond contemporary seeker-oriented worship styles to incorporate a sense of mystery and the presence of God found in historic liturgical practices.
• orienting a congregation�s sense of its missional vocation around the presence of its members in a variety of work-worlds.
• re-focusing the way the Bible functions as the charter story of the congregation by finding new ways of being engaged by the Bible.
• planting a new Christian community where its healing presence is needed.
• seeking reconciliation in a divided and fragmented community.
• establishing patterns of Christian community in small groups within a congregation.
• ...!??!

The Journey Pathway

Each group, once it has been formed, will move through a three-year cycle of learning together. Fundamental to their journey will be their formation as an online learning community. Internet-based means of group conversation will allow the group�s collective learning to keep pace all along the way. This will enable the group to experience the constant stimulation to be found in the combination of personal learning initiatives and peer interactions toward shared learning.

A series of face-to-face gatherings of the group form another critical component. There will be a total of six gatherings at intervals of approximately six months, each gathering for the duration of three days. These will provide the opportunity for a more extended and deliberate engagement around the issues at hand and make it possible for the group to draw upon the insights of critical resource people. They will also help to focus the emerging outcomes of their learning.

Among the group�s gatherings, the first and last ones will have special agendas. The first gathering will give primary attention to the forging of the group�s learning alliance. That will involve forming relationships, building trust, and discovering the potential for becoming a mutually accountable learning community. In the gathering, the group will clarify the specific learning outcomes it will pursue together and plan how it will seek to achieve them.

The final gathering will be the point at which the Journey Group will consolidate its learnings, finding appropriate ways to share the fruit of their learning with a wider circle. The group will also evaluate the group process and their own learning in the course of it, plotting future directions in which each one�s learning will go in light of what has come out of the shared experience. Extending peer learning covenants, moving to a �next� area of learning need flagged during the process, pursuing formal educational avenues are all potential outcomes that are anticipated.

For the other gatherings, the program provides financial resources for bringing key resource persons for structured conversations with the group. These are persons with special knowledge, experience, wisdom, or practice relevant to the area of the particular learning focus of the group. Resources are provided to secure the visits of three such persons at the particular group gatherings where those visits would be the most beneficial. In addition, each group will be provided resources to design one of its gatherings to be an occasion not only to aid their own learning but to offer to a wider public the opportunity to join them in a theme conference around the issues they are engaging. The resources provide for an additional one or two resource persons to be invited to play leading roles in that theme conference.

Throughout the cycle of each group, it is expected that each participant�s own learning corresponds to and interacts with a similar pattern of learning within the congregation in regard to the focus area. The learning congregation, in other words, will be the pastor�s learning partner throughout the cycle. This connection will be facilitated by the identification or formation of some small group of persons within the congregation who guide and cultivate the learning of the congregation as a whole. At some point in the Journey Group�s learning cycle this will become a tangible part of the group�s routine. One of the group�s gatherings will be an expanded one that includes two people from each of the congregations who are involved in its own learning journey. This expanded gathering will focus on the synergy of pastoral and congregational learning and give opportunity for the companionship between the congregations to be made more tangible.

Following the conclusion of all the gatherings of all six groups, a showcase conference will be held to highlight in a wider audience the learning gains experienced by participants in the groups. The conference will feature presentations by some of the group participants and all group participants will be invited to be present. The fruit of the formal evaluation of the whole process will be reported as well, and future planning in light of the evaluation will be shared. (Attendance at this event is optional, but encouraged, for both group participants and congregational participants in the expanded gathering.)

Faculty Mentors for the Journey

All along the way, each group will benefit from the companionship and guidance of a Journey Mentor. Dr. George R. Hunsberger (Dean of the Center for the Continuing Education of the Church) and another faculty mentor soon to be appointed in the Center will divide between them this responsibility for the groups. It is the Journey Mentor�s responsibility to:

• maintain in the group the values and aims critical to this model of learning.
• facilitate the gatherings of the group, including the processes of preparation for gatherings and accountabilities flowing from them.
• manage, between meetings, the telecommunication and internet routines necessary for ongoing conversation.
• provide links to critical resources to assist learning, both tangible materials such as print or electronic publications and personal connections with people and communities that are models and skill resources.
• assist in managing the logistics of the theme conference planned by the group to open their exploration to a wider audience.
• all along the way, guide and goad the learners and the group, providing at appropriate times and in appropriate ways insights and perspectives, questions and critiques, affirmation and encouragement.
• assist the group at the end to coalesce the fruit of its learning in ways that can be broadly shared with others.

In the initial stages of the program, several other faculty of the seminary will serve as Consulting Mentors with special responsibility for designing the formative initial sessions of the groups. They will assist in nurturing personal learning readiness and the groups� learning alliances. In particular, they will attend to pedagogical matters of learning goals and strategies to meet them, psychological matters of personal biography and integrity, and vocational matters of ministerial identity and context. They will remain available for personal or group consultation throughout each group's journey.

Two faculty of the seminary who will serve in these capacities are: Dr. George Brown, Jr., the G. W. and Eddie Haworth Professor of Christian Education and Associate Dean, who brings particular expertise in pedagogy and adult learning; Dr. Jaco J. Hamman, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, who brings special expertise in the emotional process of individuals (clergy) and systems (congregations).

Anticipated Outcomes

The goal is that each Journey Group will:

• produce in some shareable form the fruit of its collective learnings (article, video, music, manuscript draft, study guide, etc.).

The goal is that each participant in the Journey Groups will:

• demonstrate within his or her ministry context the fruit of learning that joins practice and meaning, theological faithfulness and missional integrity.
• establish continuing aims and plans for learning beyond the duration the group, including in those plans elements of peer matching and journey mentors.

The goal is that each participating congregation will:

• experience a fruitful partnership between their own learning at the growing edges and that of their pastor.

The goal is that the Center for the Continuing Education of the Church will:

• test and establish Journey Groups as a model for continuing theological education and develop the methods, routines and protocols that are involved in mentoring them.
• build on the initial pilot experience to form an ongoing program and gain the resources necessary for its continuation.

Commitments

Participants in Journey Groups will be expected to commit themselves to active learning throughout the three-year learning cycle of the group. That includes commitment to:

• sustain patterns of personal inquiry and learning (including routines of reading, engagement, reflection and practice).
• participate in group gatherings and online communication as an active and responsible peer learner.
• maintain companionship with people and/or groups within the congregation who travel a parallel learning journey in the same area of concern.

The congregation or community in which each participant serves will be expected to make a commitment to travel a learning path alongside the participant and the group in the same area of learning. Specifically, that includes commitment to:

• support the participating pastor�s learning by affirming the investments of time and energy in that path.
• establish the specific place within the congregation�s membership and life together that will carry responsibility to cultivate the congregation�s learning alongside that of the pastor and his or her Journey Group.
• secure the participation of two learning leaders in the congregation to join the expanded gathering of the Journey Group.
• partner with the participant to secure the financial resources for the participation of the pastor and congregation.

Costs

The financial participation fee for each pastor/congregation is $800 per year for each of the three years of the learning cycle, a total of $2,400. The following notes may help to set that fee in the context of the program as a whole.

1. All transportation, lodging and meal expenses are provided for all the group gatherings, including the expenses for the two congregation members who participate in the expanded gathering. No additional cost for such direct expenses as these will be incurred. The single exception is that transportation expenses for the optional showcase conference at the end of the project will not be covered. Lodging and meals at that conference will be covered entirely, however, for both the group participant and two congregation members.

2. The total fee for each participant is a good bit less than half of the direct costs anticipated for travel, lodging and meals. In regard to the project as a whole, which includes the broader costs of providing resource persons and mentors and giving the necessary administrative, logistical and technological support, the fee cares for less than 13% of the total cost of the program, the rest of which is provided by the grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

3. It is expected that in many cases a large portion of the fee can be covered by the annual continuing education allowance most congregations provide their pastor. Congregations are encouraged to supplement that amount from resources it budgets annually for its own learning, education and growth.

4. It is recognized that in some instances these budgeted resources are not readily available. In some such cases, where the size of the congregation, the socio-economic circumstances of its members, and the congregation�s current financial resources are especially limited, petition may be made for a partial adjustment in the fee. Such a request must include a full description of the circumstances that require assistance. It must also show how denominational or other avenues of shared support for Journey Group participation have been sought and to what extent such help has been offered.

While not a specific cost for the program, it should be noted that computer and internet access will be required for participation in the online part of the Journey Group�s life. The groups will use a computer software program called Angel to manage their online interaction, but that will not require anyone to load the program on their computer. Angel works by means of a normal web browser and is designed to work well with dial-up internet access as well as connections that offer greater access speed. Also, the program makes no provision for the purchase of books or materials that each participant might find useful or necessary for his or her learning. Those remain the responsibility of each person in the program.

Selection and Application

The Journey Groups program seeks people who...

• Are prepared to be active, collegial learners
• Are in ministry settings demanding focused learning in a particular area of concern
• Have companionship in the congregation with people who are traveling the same learning path

Persons will be invited to participate in a group based upon application materials that demonstrate personal readiness to learn in a particular facet of ministry, readiness in their congregation for active learning in that same area, and congruence with the learning focus of a cluster of other applicants. Selection criteria include the following:

• A capacity and readiness to learn
• A clear and compelling learning goal
• A viable ministry context for that learning
• A capacity and readiness for collaborative learning with peers
• A match in learning goals among a cluster of applicants

Selections will be made based on the demonstration of these features in an application file that must include the following:

1. A completed application form. [This form is included on the pages following this section.]

2. A concise description of your current ministry context. Include the social and cultural character of the community, the qualities of life and witness the congregation exhibits, the critical challenges you and the congregation currently face, and the expectations you and the congregation have for traveling together as you tackle the challenges. (It is generally expected that the applicant will have been in his or her ministry context for at least a year and expects to remain in that context throughout the three-year cycle of the Journey Group.)

3. A concise spiritual autobiography. This is not merely a chronology of life, but a reflection on those people, places, moments, and symbols that have been the significant shaping forces in one�s life and a discernment of the presence and action of God in the midst of one�s formation as a person in relationship with God and others. It should include a sense of God�s call and current discoveries about what that call may include in the future.

4. A focused statement of your learning goal. Include: a clearly identified and defined area of interest; the factors in your context that precipitate your need to learn in that area; the problem, puzzle, issue or challenge that you are attempting to engage; the factors that make your context a good one in which to pursue your learning; the specific outcomes you anticipate from a deliberate path of learning in this area of interest.

5. Evidence of the capacity and readiness to learn. Include: transcripts of post-secondary and/or post-baccalaureate academic achievement; documentation of any other formal or informal programs of learning; illustrations of learning in the context of a community of peers. (Of special importance would be those things that would demonstrate the ability to know oneself well, the capacity to reflect theologically on the practice of ministry, and what one is able to contribute to the learning of others in a group.)

6. References from two peers in pastoral ministry and from two persons in the current ministry context. These should be persons who know the applicant well and can evaluate his or her readiness to learn and his or her potential for success in peer learning. (The form for references is included on the pages following this section and the Application Form. It is suggested that the applicant provide each reference with a copy of the form, a copy of the Focused Statement of Your Learning Goal, and a stamped envelope addressed to the Journey Groups Program.)

Appendices Attached

A. Sustaining Pastoral Excellence: A Rationale for Journey Groups
B. A Vision for Learning In Journey
C. Ivan Illich's "Learning Webs"