Free masterclass · Thursday, October 15

Flourishing in Ministry Teams and Organizations: Coaching the Whole Ministry

A live, 90-minute session with Rev. Chris Adams, PhD, on what congregations, church boards, and denominational leaders can do to help their pastors flourish, and how coaching extends from one leader to an entire team.

Thursday, October 15 · 3:00–4:30 p.m. PT / 6:00–7:30 p.m. ET · Live on Zoom · Free

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15+ years of research · more than 20,000 ministry leaders · Biola University's Rosemead School of Psychology

The premise

A leader's wellbeing has a ceiling, and the system around them sets it.

Most care for pastors happens one person at a time. A pastor gets coaching, a retreat, or a sabbatical, and then goes back to the same board, the same expectations, and the same unspoken rule that they are supposed to be fine.

Our research with more than 20,000 ministry leaders found that the strongest predictor of whether a pastor flourishes is a positive, mutually supportive relationship with their congregation. That makes flourishing something a whole ministry either makes possible or makes harder. This masterclass is about coaching at that level.

Session outline

Five things Chris will teach

Foundations

What coaching is, and what it is not

A working definition of coaching you can use with a board chair or a denominational leader, including where coaching ends and counseling begins.

The model

Four dimensions inside one relational ecosystem

How Daily Wellbeing, Resilience, Thriving, and Authenticity depend on the relationships around a leader, and why that changes who belongs in the coaching conversation.

Congregations

What congregations and church boards can do

Economic sufficiency for the pastor and family, policies that protect renewal and sabbaticals, a covenant for handling conflict, training for board members on clergy stress, and strength-based job descriptions.

Denominations

What denominational leaders can do

Put clergy wellbeing ahead of effectiveness reviews, intervene when congregations mistreat clergy, fund confidential coaching, spiritual direction, and counseling, and place pastors where their values fit the congregation.

Practice

Coaching the whole team

How individual and group coaching, an organizational ecosystem review, and private coach training cohorts help a ministry carry this work together.

Audience

Who this masterclass serves

Coaches and counselors who serve pastors and ministry staff · Denominational and judicatory leaders · Church board members and elders · Leaders of ministry teams and Christian organizations

Your hosts

Teaching: Rev. Chris Adams, PhD. Joining: Dr. Sylvia Hart Frejd.

Rev. Chris Adams, Ph.D.

Executive Director · Teaching

Rev. Chris Adams, Ph.D., is a third-generation pastor's kid, ordained minister, clinical psychologist and certified well-being and leadership coach. He has served in pastoral care and counseling roles in a large congregation and a large Christian university. He specializes in the well-being of ministerial students, clergy and their families. Chris currently serves as Professor, Chaplain and Executive Director of the Mental Health and the Church Initiative at Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University.

Chris teaches pastoral care and counseling, Christian leadership formation and psychology and Christianity integration courses for Rosemead and several seminaries. Chris is a consultant to numerous denominations and seminaries in the areas of clergy candidate formative evaluation, clergy health and flourishing and pastoral leadership formation. He is the lead researcher for the Flourishing in Ministry project, and is currently participating as a consultant and researcher with the Duke Clergy Health Initiative.

Chris is a frequent lecturer at seminaries, retreats and conferences. He was recently awarded the 2023 Archibald D. Hart Counseling Pioneer Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship in Training and Educating the Next Generation of Leaders in Mental Health and Caring for Others.

Dr. Sylvia Hart Frejd

Director of Coach Education · Joining

Dr. Sylvia Hart Frejd has over 20 years experience of coaching for relationships, women in leadership, life transitions, stress and anxiety, grief and loss, spiritual formation/direction, parenting for digital wellness and emotional intelligence. In addition to being the Director of Coach Education for Flourishing in Ministry, she serves as the Director of the Flourish Center for well-being in Knoxville, Tennessee and is the Founder and President of Flourish Wellbeing University.

She holds a master's degree specializing in Christian Counseling and a D.Min. in Leadership. She is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and ICF Mentor Coach.

She is the co-author with her father Dr. Archibald Hart of The Digital Invasion: How Technology is Shaping You and Your Relationships. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Fox News, PBS and CBS Radio, Mashable, CBN, TBN, Focus on the Family, and in The Christian Post.

Save your seat for October 15