The Pastoral Excellence Program

We believe our Pastoral Excellence Program offers a profoundly hopeful vision for the future of the church.
We believe excellent pastors create excellent churches.

The purpose of the Pastoral Excellence Program is to develop, promote, and sustain pastoral excellence leadership for the  churches in the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ.

Christian and pastoral excellence is a way of life marked by character, competence and constancy and is practiced in community. To that end, we have created a vibrant conference-wide network of small groups and large learning events for clergy in every season of ministry, offering opportunities for collegial support and ongoing development in the practices of pastoral ministry.

The Ministry

New Clergy Groups  for clergy in their first three years of ministry meet monthly in small groups of three to five, assisted by a more experienced pastor who is trained to serve as facilitator and mentor.

Here, new pastors find the support and guidance they need to navigate the transition from seminary into pastoral ministry. They will learn best practices of meeting the challenges of the first years of ministry and developing habits that will enable them to thrive for a lifetime of effective service.

Clergy Communities of Practice offer more experienced pastors opportunities to hone their practices of ministry and develop meaningful collegial friendships.

Counteracting the risks of isolation and burnout, the Clergy Communities of Practice are designed to help clergy uncover the challenges of ministry and the possibilities of new growth.

Continuing Education and Learning Events: Conference-wide learning events widen the circle of conversation beyond the clergy groups. In recent years, more of these Colloquies have been designed not just for clergy alone, but for congregational teams of pastors and lay leaders together.

Colloquies also offer opportunities for focused learning and discussion on particular topics, such as navigating conflict and change, clergy writing institutes, and worship planning for liturgical seasons. An annual series for graduating seminarians helps to equip them for the search and call process. 

In the Pastoral Excellence Program of the Massachusetts Conference, UCC:

• Our pastors are intentional about sharing with their colleagues their resources for ministry and ideas of things they have tried with their own congregations.
• Our pastors are growing in faith and wisdom, finding their commitment to pastoral ministry reaffirmed and their appreciation of one another as friends and colleagues deepened.
• Our Pastoral Excellence Program groups are nurturing a more generous and compassionate spirit in our clergy, enabling them to more fully inhabit a pastoral identity and to stay in touch with the real joy of ministry.

Excellent Ministry Needs Excellent Support

There is an increasing sense that this ministry in which we are engaged is a shared endeavor, a communal venture, a covenantal commitment. Together we are exploring what it means to live faithfully as Christ’s disciples in this day and what it is that God is calling the church to be and do at this time.

Excellent ministry:

• requires practice;
• is collegial;
• is embodied;
• operates best with a balance of agency and accountability; and
• must be properly resourced.

We will increase our efforts to broaden and deepen our program, to make its practices and resources available to the wider church, and to follow the
implications of our insights into new areas of inquiry regarding pastoral excellence and congregational vitality.

Who has participated?

117 newly ordained clergy have participated in 27 New Clergy Groups.

373 pastors have participated in New Clergy Groups or Clergy Communities of Practice.

356 local congregations have been represented in the New Clergy Groups or Clergy Communities of Practice.

There have been 120 Colloquies - or learning events - in which 337 pastors have participated, representing 210 congregations.

Currently, there are 48 facilitators leading these New Clergy Groups and Clergy Communities of Practice, including those who are part of the the wider New England grant providing the New Clergy Groups in CT, VT, and RI.