Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

This month we offer five resources to help your congregation with leadership. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers and the monthly digest.

1. In Leadership and Learning, Jeremiah Sierra reveals how leaders will often learn new things about their personality and behavior while in positions of leadership. The best leaders are those who are open to learn and grow themselves. What are you learning about yourself while you lead?

2. A few years ago, the Episcopal Church in Connecticut was inspired by Brian McLaren’s Adventures in Missing the Point. In The Wizard of Oz or Dorothy, Gail Lebert summarizes McLaren’s Eight Elements of Leadership and how her diocese applied it to their own specific ministry context.

3. In Try This at Church: What Do You See?, Nancy Davidge suggests a process through which church leaders might understand different perspectives and grow better together as a team. Is your vestry or ministry team mindful of the varying views in the room? Try this exercise!

4. Wonder why you have a fantastic leader but there are things that are keeping you stuck? In Cocky Driver Syndrome and How it Can Put Your Ministry in the Ditch, Melissa Rau explains the importance of systems and structure, and why they are necessary for effective leadership.

5. Identifying and Recruiting New Leaders is a webinar by Ella Auchincloss that examines ways to identify potential leaders in your congregation. It also shares ideas to help recruit leaders through effective and traditional community organizing tools.