Residency program prepares seminary graduates for full-time ministry

From DisciplesWorld:

Blogmaster's Note: Shane Issac, the new minister at Plymouth Creek Christian Church in Plymouth, MN is interviewed for this article.

By Tanya J. Tyler, DisciplesWorld contributing writer


LEXINGTON, Ky. (7/22/08) — What is a young minister to do? Many times, newly graduated seminarians enter congregational ministry with little idea of what they’re getting into. No wonder they feel they’ve been thrown to the wolves.

“And sometimes they are thrown to some of our meanest wolves,” said Michael Mooty, senior minister at Central Christian Church in Lexington, Ky. “They end up in some of the most difficult and discouraging situations in ministry without any kind of real experience to help them give good pastoral leadership.”


To rectify this situation, Central and other congregations nationwide, both Disciples of Christ and other denominations, offer residency programs that help graduates make the transition from seminary student to full-time pastor.


Central received a $750,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment in December 2001 to establish a pastoral residency program through the endowment’s Transition into Ministry initiative. A core belief of the initiative is that practices of effective pastoral leadership can best be learned through intense involvement with a faithful congregation and an experienced pastoral leader.
“Their studies demonstrated that a lot of people went into ministry and then five years later were doing something else,” Mooty explained.

“Their question was, ‘Would a positive first experience in ministry, in which a person has the opportunity to work with and be mentored by an experienced pastor, be helpful?’”

Primarily targeting seminary graduates in their 20s, Central’s program offers a variety of ministerial opportunities.

“The residents get to do everything,” Mooty said. This includes preaching, assisting at funerals and weddings, teaching, and offering pastoral care. While some congregations use a rotation model, where the resident spends six months in a certain capacity, such as Christian education, Central’s program was designed to model actual ministry.

“The residents have to decide what the focus of their ministry’s going to be,” Mooty said. “We challenge them to find areas where they can give leadership in the congregation and the community. They can only discover their gifts themselves.”

Seven ministers have graduated from Central’s program so far. Heather McColl, a member of the first class in 2002, now serves as senior minister at Midway Christian Church in Midway, Ky.

It was difficult being in that first class, McColl acknowledged.

“We didn’t have any job descriptions and at first it was really frustrating, but Michael said, ‘You have to develop your ministry.’ As soon as he said it, it was a freeing experience,” McColl said. “I became more aware of my potential in the church.”

Erin Wathen, pastor of Foothills Christian Church in Glendale, Ariz., was in the second class. Initially, she saw herself serving as an associate pastor, but her experience at Central helped her realize she was capable of leading a congregation.

“After about a year in the program, I started to feel a lot more called to a senior pastor position and much more equipped for it,” she said. “I learned I had a lot of natural instinct for pastoral care and church life in general.”

Shane Isaac is the program’s most recent graduate. The experience was more than he anticipated.

“It was a phenomenal opportunity for me to begin getting my pastoral feet wet in a supportive and nurturing environment,” he said.

Isaac started seminary intending to become a Navy chaplain. After his second year, he felt his call to ministry was shifting. “I had to spend some serious time in prayer and discernment, saying, ‘Okay, Lord, if that’s not where I’m going, where am I going?’ It seemed congregational ministry was the right place.”

Like his colleagues, he found his call affirmed in the residency program. He has just begun serving Plymouth Creek Christian Church in Minnesota.

Mooty and his staff, which includes two former regional ministers of the Christian Church in Kentucky, made themselves available to the residents, who appreciated their support.
“You couldn’t ask for better mentors,” McColl said.

The church also benefited from the residency program.

“There was a time of transition where the congregation had to figure out, ‘Oh, these people have already graduated from seminary. These people are full-time staff with us. The depth of our relationships with them can be different,’” Mooty said.

“Now the congregation has learned to trust these people and have a high level of expectation of the kind of leadership they bring,” he said.