A collection of Continuing Education resources and opportunities I have actually experienced and would recommend.
I started this list because apparently some people have a hard time coming up with continuing education ideas? (Can't relate.) Please feel free to email me if any questions come from this list - or if you've just been to something awesome I should go to next year!
Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary is currently offering a "Financial Management for Churches and Non-Profits" class at a HUGE discount. Begins fall of 2019. I took this class in one of its first iterations and found it enormously helpful. It won't help you plan stewardship, but it'll make you a better steward (one who finally understands depreciation). Click here for GETS site on this course.
The Collegeville Institute is an ecumenical center focused on getting progressive Christian voices published in a variety of media. When you're ready to write your book, they will put you up in a residency for a few months; in the meantime, apply to one of their writing workshops. Once you're accepted, all expenses are paid - and you'll learn the craft of writing for publication and persuasion from some of the best teachers around. I've done two weeks here and met some wonderful friends I still keep in touch with. The week I spent working on metaphor is also the single best thing I have done for my preaching. This program is not limited to the ordained, or restricted by denomination.
PEP (I and/or II), the Preaching Excellence Program is run by the Episcopal Preaching Foundation. Every year they run one of the few conferences where students from all the various seminaries spend a week together. There's lots of Anglican worship, usually an interesting plenary speaker, and break-outs and small groups run by a top-notch faculty that includes me. In the past few years, they've also added a PEP-II program for the recently ordained, and have done a number of programs in dioceses. It's a rare opportunity to hear a bunch of great and not-so-great sermons, as well as a chance to hear feedback on your own preaching. This program is restricted by your ordination status, and only open to Episcopalians (and sometimes ELCA Lutherans).
The Festival of Homiletics, held every year in various locations around the country, is the largest mainline Protestant preaching conference around. A great chance to hear superstar preachers and sermons that will stay with you. The downside is that it's huge, and you have to pay your own way - while registration is relatively cheap, you also have to pay all your own lodging and food costs, as well as transportation. The large-session format also makes it very difficult to meet new people - although you'll run into a bunch of folks you know from different places, because everyone attends at some point. Worth the trip if you can afford it, which of course is a big if.
I didn't realize I wanted to go on a Holy Land Pilgrimage (Lightline NA) until I went and came back. Being herded around the country that Jesus walked radically changes how you read the Bible. I do not find group travel at all refreshing or restful, but the agency linked to above works with some amazing hotels and restaurants. You can sign up to join a group or form one of your own - ten or more people qualify for group travel rates, and at some point you begin to accrue free traveler points.
Micah Groups are a program of Fuller Seminary, the Harvard of the Evangelical world. They are intentionally diverse groups formed out of clergy and preachers from all backgrounds who are interested in preaching about and working towards justice. There's a $400 fee for joining a Micah group, which allows you access to an online curriculum and specialized e-reader - but if you form your own Micah group, you'll be paid and get two trips to California to the Micah mothership. While open to preachers from all denominations (we even have a Unitarian Univeralist in our group), be aware that the definition of "justice" that Fuller is most comfortable with includes race and class but not gender and sexuality.
Gathering of Leaders is an Episcopal-only and invite-only program for ordained leadership in the church. They run three-day retreats around the country (something like four a year), to which their entire mailing list is invited. You pay your own way, which includes all room and board, and also provide your own travel. I have mixed feelings about GOL. It is a valuable networking resource - retreats almost always include a few bishops who are eager to recruit for their dioceses - but the quality of the teaching varies by retreat. GOL leadership reviews the list of who signs up for each retreat, and then invites those they know and trust to present to the larger group. I recommend what was recommended to me - attend it when the travel would be easy/cheap or it's in a location you'd like to spend a few extra days in.
The Gathering is a conference for Millennial and Gen X clergy, held every three years. There's no website, as the planning is done by a small, self-selecting group in the interim. The design varies from triennial to triennial, but is always innovative and purposeful. It is a great place to meet people, network, and learn new skills and ideas. If you are invited, go.
CREDO is the Church Pension Fund's attempt to prevent clergy burnout and spend enough of their endowment to maintain nonprofit status. The program again varies in content and quality, but always includes opportunities for self-evaluation and goal setting in the areas of physical, mental, spiritual, and vocational health, and can provide a timely respite. Do not sign up for the "Recent Ordained Clergy" sessions, however - this group is too broad in scope and demographic. (I've actually heard that these are on the outs and CREDO is being re-formatted. This caution still stands.)
If the Association of Anglican Musicians comes to your city, sit in on whatever sessions appeal or allow you to attend. Some are too precious, some are too serious, but a lot of these serious musicians are thoughtful about spirituality and liturgy, and quite a few are very fun to drink with after the conference.
I'm nowhere near high enough in my Anglicanism to be a part of the Society of Catholic Priests - North America, but I admire them quite a lot. The group originally began in England, as a place for the more liberal of the Anglo-Catholics to support each other (and women's ordination); the American branch includes some terrific priests, and their annual conference can be enlightening. For me, it's equal parts learning and sitting on the sidelines for debates I can't understand and barely care about - but the liturgy is terrific.
Why Christian is still fairly new - it's like a smaller Festival of Homiletics that focuses on emerging voices, and does a better job of including women and people of color. I wouldn't recommend traveling for it, but it's worth keeping an eye on. Poster child Nadia Bolz Weber usually preaches but does not write a new sermon for it.
Philadelphia's amazing Mazzoni Center puts on the biggest transgender conference in American every year. TransHealth is a learning experience for cis and trans* folk alike, and includes a number of sessions on spirituality and religion every year. I always drew inspiration from these folks - who often are dismissed or harassed by religious figures, but still seek their own honest paths to God. (Yes, Mazzoni has turned out to be potentially problematic, but the conference is so grassroots and community-driven I still feel comfortable recommending it.)
And finally ... if you're truly out of ideas, plan your own reading week! Take that stack of books you're supposed to have read already (or were supposed to read in seminary), book a week somewhere affordable, and get to work. There was a group of folk in one diocese who had been doing this together as a small group for almost a decade. You can invite people or just go yourself. The bottom line is that you've got to take that continuing education time and money!
Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary is currently offering a "Financial Management for Churches and Non-Profits" class at a HUGE discount. Begins fall of 2019. I took this class in one of its first iterations and found it enormously helpful. It won't help you plan stewardship, but it'll make you a better steward (one who finally understands depreciation). Click here for GETS site on this course.
The Collegeville Institute is an ecumenical center focused on getting progressive Christian voices published in a variety of media. When you're ready to write your book, they will put you up in a residency for a few months; in the meantime, apply to one of their writing workshops. Once you're accepted, all expenses are paid - and you'll learn the craft of writing for publication and persuasion from some of the best teachers around. I've done two weeks here and met some wonderful friends I still keep in touch with. The week I spent working on metaphor is also the single best thing I have done for my preaching. This program is not limited to the ordained, or restricted by denomination.
PEP (I and/or II), the Preaching Excellence Program is run by the Episcopal Preaching Foundation. Every year they run one of the few conferences where students from all the various seminaries spend a week together. There's lots of Anglican worship, usually an interesting plenary speaker, and break-outs and small groups run by a top-notch faculty that includes me. In the past few years, they've also added a PEP-II program for the recently ordained, and have done a number of programs in dioceses. It's a rare opportunity to hear a bunch of great and not-so-great sermons, as well as a chance to hear feedback on your own preaching. This program is restricted by your ordination status, and only open to Episcopalians (and sometimes ELCA Lutherans).
The Festival of Homiletics, held every year in various locations around the country, is the largest mainline Protestant preaching conference around. A great chance to hear superstar preachers and sermons that will stay with you. The downside is that it's huge, and you have to pay your own way - while registration is relatively cheap, you also have to pay all your own lodging and food costs, as well as transportation. The large-session format also makes it very difficult to meet new people - although you'll run into a bunch of folks you know from different places, because everyone attends at some point. Worth the trip if you can afford it, which of course is a big if.
I didn't realize I wanted to go on a Holy Land Pilgrimage (Lightline NA) until I went and came back. Being herded around the country that Jesus walked radically changes how you read the Bible. I do not find group travel at all refreshing or restful, but the agency linked to above works with some amazing hotels and restaurants. You can sign up to join a group or form one of your own - ten or more people qualify for group travel rates, and at some point you begin to accrue free traveler points.
Micah Groups are a program of Fuller Seminary, the Harvard of the Evangelical world. They are intentionally diverse groups formed out of clergy and preachers from all backgrounds who are interested in preaching about and working towards justice. There's a $400 fee for joining a Micah group, which allows you access to an online curriculum and specialized e-reader - but if you form your own Micah group, you'll be paid and get two trips to California to the Micah mothership. While open to preachers from all denominations (we even have a Unitarian Univeralist in our group), be aware that the definition of "justice" that Fuller is most comfortable with includes race and class but not gender and sexuality.
Gathering of Leaders is an Episcopal-only and invite-only program for ordained leadership in the church. They run three-day retreats around the country (something like four a year), to which their entire mailing list is invited. You pay your own way, which includes all room and board, and also provide your own travel. I have mixed feelings about GOL. It is a valuable networking resource - retreats almost always include a few bishops who are eager to recruit for their dioceses - but the quality of the teaching varies by retreat. GOL leadership reviews the list of who signs up for each retreat, and then invites those they know and trust to present to the larger group. I recommend what was recommended to me - attend it when the travel would be easy/cheap or it's in a location you'd like to spend a few extra days in.
The Gathering is a conference for Millennial and Gen X clergy, held every three years. There's no website, as the planning is done by a small, self-selecting group in the interim. The design varies from triennial to triennial, but is always innovative and purposeful. It is a great place to meet people, network, and learn new skills and ideas. If you are invited, go.
CREDO is the Church Pension Fund's attempt to prevent clergy burnout and spend enough of their endowment to maintain nonprofit status. The program again varies in content and quality, but always includes opportunities for self-evaluation and goal setting in the areas of physical, mental, spiritual, and vocational health, and can provide a timely respite. Do not sign up for the "Recent Ordained Clergy" sessions, however - this group is too broad in scope and demographic. (I've actually heard that these are on the outs and CREDO is being re-formatted. This caution still stands.)
If the Association of Anglican Musicians comes to your city, sit in on whatever sessions appeal or allow you to attend. Some are too precious, some are too serious, but a lot of these serious musicians are thoughtful about spirituality and liturgy, and quite a few are very fun to drink with after the conference.
I'm nowhere near high enough in my Anglicanism to be a part of the Society of Catholic Priests - North America, but I admire them quite a lot. The group originally began in England, as a place for the more liberal of the Anglo-Catholics to support each other (and women's ordination); the American branch includes some terrific priests, and their annual conference can be enlightening. For me, it's equal parts learning and sitting on the sidelines for debates I can't understand and barely care about - but the liturgy is terrific.
Why Christian is still fairly new - it's like a smaller Festival of Homiletics that focuses on emerging voices, and does a better job of including women and people of color. I wouldn't recommend traveling for it, but it's worth keeping an eye on. Poster child Nadia Bolz Weber usually preaches but does not write a new sermon for it.
Philadelphia's amazing Mazzoni Center puts on the biggest transgender conference in American every year. TransHealth is a learning experience for cis and trans* folk alike, and includes a number of sessions on spirituality and religion every year. I always drew inspiration from these folks - who often are dismissed or harassed by religious figures, but still seek their own honest paths to God. (Yes, Mazzoni has turned out to be potentially problematic, but the conference is so grassroots and community-driven I still feel comfortable recommending it.)
And finally ... if you're truly out of ideas, plan your own reading week! Take that stack of books you're supposed to have read already (or were supposed to read in seminary), book a week somewhere affordable, and get to work. There was a group of folk in one diocese who had been doing this together as a small group for almost a decade. You can invite people or just go yourself. The bottom line is that you've got to take that continuing education time and money!