Culture Shift

Part-Time Ministry Project

January 2023 - January 2024

a one-year training for people in Part-Time ministry Contexts

for Clergy, board members, m and P committee members and more

"As mainline Protestant congregations increasingly let go of full-time ministry personnel positions and call part-time clergy instead, many are tragically misreading their situations. In settings served by part-time ministers, lay people and clergy have the Godgiven raw material to flourish as never before. Financial constraints are capable of hastening faithful new collaborations and mutual liberation! God is doing a new thing, as per Isaiah 43:19, though the people largely don’t perceive it – at least not yet. This program aims to reorient the destiny of decline mindset toward ministry structures that can imagine and harvest the abundance of what is emerging".

- Jeff MacDonald

Seeing with new lenses and embracing proven ministry models, church leaders will develop a strategically redesigned pastorate and ministry partnership to thrive regardless of the number of hours of the paid accountable minister.

The Part-Time Ministry Project brings together lay and ordered leaders from eight United Churches in the Chinook Winds and Pacific Mountain Regions. Laity (community of faith members) and clergy (ministry personnel) travel a strategic new course together, engaging in joint and separate sessions over 12 months.

Course leader

REV. G. JEFFreY MACDONALD

The Rev. G. Jeffrey MacDonald is an award-winning religion journalist, church consultant and part-time pastor of a small rural congregation in America's least religious state: New Hampshire. He's the author of Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time Clergy (Westminster John Knox Press, 2020). He's ordained in the United Church of Christ.

What is the format of the year?

This project includes live teaching sessions, a live learning lab for individual participants, and shared support and learning across all participating congregations.

Download the Brochure Here!

Download dates and course themes here!

Each month, participants will join Jeff online for a live content session. There will also be an optional drop-in learning lab each month to explore specific issues arising in particular communities of faith or for specific ministry personnel will be offered. The experience will also be supported with course curriculum and community discussion available 24/7 online on the Sage platform.