Tools for Discernment

  • Structuring Leadership Teams The most effective leaders have always created teams to work with and lead with them. Take Moses in the story of Exodus, or Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament, or Martin Luther King Jr. in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Our own ministries could be more rewarding if we intentionally structured better teams in all areas of church life.
  • Living Into Our Ministries This guide is for conducting effective mutual ministry reviews in one's congregation. It was collaboratively developed by the Episcopal Church Foundation, the Episcopal Church Center's Offices for Ministry Development and Deployment and many diocesan representatives.
  • Vestry Discernment Process As a new rector in the 1990s, Janie Kirt Morris knew that she wanted a prayerful process for raising up healthy, faithful leaders for the congregation. She attended conferences and listened to wise observations from experienced lay and clergy leaders and over time created a process that has helped us at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Houston. Here are some of the tools she had developed - and refined - to help with the vestry discernment process.
  • Increasing Spiritual Vitality: RenewalWorks RenewalWorks grew out of the Diocese of Chicago's Episcopal Spiritual Life Renewal Program. Facilitator Clarence Langdon describes the process developed for congregations.
  • Faith-Based Community Organizing: Book Study Groups This list includes resources to help your small group engage in meaningful conversations about congregational organizing and community building. Whether your community has a deep history of organizing or you're just beginning to explore this work, these books can guide your discernment. Each one invites reflection on how the Holy Spirit might be calling your congregation to live out your faith and values in the public square.
  • Approaching Change in a Congregation Every congregation and community of faith faces the need to change. This lesson workbook wil lintroduce you to the Beckhard Change Model and help you apply it to your own congregation's needed changes.
  • Building Your Asset Map: Building Authentic Relationships Congregations often forget that their most important mission field is int heir own backyard. This lesson workbook helps you identify the people, places, and organizations in your neighborhood.