Web Sites
One Book - One Diocese program of the Diocese of Georgia is using Michelle Heyne’s In Your Holy Spirit: Traditional Spiritual Practices in Today’s Christian Life.
Shaping the Parish - A new program with both national and diocesan expressions. Focuses on immediate, tangible improvements while building long-term parish health. Provides two interdependent elements: 1) A support system for your parish as it seeks increased health. 2) The development of people in the parish with increased skills and knowledge for shaping the parish. Shaping the Parish assumes that vibrant, faithful churches will flourish as parishes and their leaders improve their own spiritual practices, emotional and social intelligence, ability to use change theory and methods.
CDI Trainers - Conducts diocesan based and national Church Development Institutes; largest intensive training program on congregational development in the Episcopal Church
Human Relations Training - Several programs that use T-groups along with other methods to help participants do focused work on emotional intelligence. All are lab education programs.
1. Congregational Development - Will contract with a diocese to provide training in human interaction, conflict mangement, consuktation skills, group development, and educational/program design skills.
2. National Training Labs - Offers a large number of experiential training workshops.
3. Center for Emotional Intelligence and Human Relations Skills - Training in emotional intelligence and human relations skills for seminarians, clergy and religious leaders
4. Group Facilaitation Training Program (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University)
Sites with information on T-groups
T-Groups, Feedback and Double-Loop Learning
T-Groups, facilitation and experience - History, role of Kurt Lewin
***************
The Alban Institute - Training, research, books on congregational development
Parish Resources - Parish Resources: Booklets, Models, Handouts. Including:
Survey-Feedback & Assessments Packet, Parish Growth & Size Packet, Parish Discernment - Formation Process of Aspirants for Priesthood, Anglican Spirituality Course, Liturgical resources
Vital Practices for Leading Congregations - Explores new ways of supporting congregations by building online communities of Episcopalians who share their stories, experiences, and best practices, who learn from one another, and who discover support to help sustain their leadership and their ministries.
Spirituality: Trinity, Seattle - The Anglican approach to spirituality tends to be appreciative of many approaches to the spiritual life. Our focus, of course, is on living in our own tradition, doing that well, and offering it to others who might find it a way of grace and love.
Episcopal Church - Resources for Congregational Vitality
Organization Development Network - The primary professional organization in the USA. The website includes information on regional networks and articles in the field
University Associates - Training, research and publications.
A special kind of healer is invoked when the church itself needs saving - Washington Post article on congregational development
Small Churches - A resource from Virginia Seminary. Generally useful but not very tuned into issues of culture and ethos.
Congregational Resource Guide - strive to point leaders to those materials that can assist them in aiding their congregation’s efforts to become healthy bodies of worship and agents of transformation in the communities they exist.
The History of Congregational Development in the Episcopal Church
Appreciative Inquiry Resources
Introduction - By David L. Cooperrider and Diana Whitney
Appreciative Inquiring Commons
AI - Clergy Leadership Institute
Appreciative Inquiry - An Overview by Kendy Rossi A very useful, short overview. It’s especially helpful in that Rossi acknowledges that AI isn’t for every situtation. It avoids the “true beliver” approach to AI.
Appreciative Inquiry: The Pluses and minuses - R. Gallagher & M. Heyne
Leadership and Personality Type
Analyzing Effective Leaders - From the Wharton School. A related study
Stop Stealing the Spot Light - European Business Review - “extraverted leadership may drive higher performance when employees are passive but lower performance when employees are proactive.”
Personality Type in Leaders - “All types can be effective as well as ineffective. Studies of thousands of leaders and maanagers world-wide have shown soem profile types to ne more predominant.”
Why Extraversion May Not Matter - “Only extraverts who possessed high levels of social skills were more likely to be leaders (and effective leaders).”