Are you leading a congregation in numerical decline? You may be wondering, What's next?
You know you can't continue the way things have been --- but you're not sure what to do or how to move forward.
This is where this course comes in.
You will move from:
Uncertainty → Confidence
Feeling "Stuck" → Following God's Call
Burnout → Resilience
Crisis → Spiritual Growth
Conflict → Consensus
Failure → Faithfulness
Practical Tools
You're a gifted leader who just needs skills, examples, and confidence to lead your church through their next steps. We've got you.
Through this course, you will gain practical tools for leading your church. You will:
-- Name and normalize the possibility of holy closure
-- Guide congregational discernment through a variety of options (including merger/consolidation, restart, relocation, and right-sizing, as well as holy closure)
-- Plan for the future based on your congregation's decision, and
-- Lead final ministry
Pastor to Pastor
Led by pastors who have been through it, this course gives you our hard-won collective wisdom. From “Quiet Wondering” about your future through “Leading Final Ministry,” you'll have experienced guides for every stage.
This course is specifically designed for pastors and lay leaders who are responsible for congregational decision-making. You may find it helpful to share the videos with other key leaders --- or you can just watch them on your own.
No matter what, you are not alone in this process. We've got your back!
What's Included
Each of the five stages features three core videos:
1. What to expect in this stage
2. Leading through challenges
3. Moving to the next stage
These core videos have reflection guides to move you to action.
Bonus videos give further tips and best practices for each stage.
Bonus: Good Friday Resource Drive
Plus, the course includes access to the jam-packed Good Friday Resource Drive. Use and adapt liturgies, sermons, communication plans, and more!
Resources include:
- Worship series for each stage
- Membership letters
- Budget communication
- Physical Asset Team guidelines
- Archival policies
- Congregational discernment
- Communication plans
- and more!
Accessible
The short videos are designed with a busy pastor in mind.
The 2.5 hours of video material are broken into bite-sized pieces to fit your busy schedule. The videos average 7min in length, so you can learn what you need and then apply it right away!
With life-time access, this is the course you will return to again and again through the process of completing your church's mission.
(The total viewing time for each stage is about half an hour. Typically, churches spend several weeks or months in each stage.)
Scholarships Available
We designed this Five Stages course so you don't have to pay the spiritual and emotional cost that we did.
The Good Friday Collaborative is committed to accessibility, so we have special rates for churches in marginalized communities, for leaders who are using their personal funds, and other churches facing special challenges.
Email [email protected] for those discount codes. You'll enter your discount code during check-out.
We hope this equity pricing honors the sacrifices you make every day. (We know these sacrifices because we've been there!)
This might feel like a lonesome valley --- but you don't have to walk it by yourself.
This self-paced course can be your companion in discernment and faithful action.
With our resources, training, and hard-won wisdom, you'll know that you are never alone. We've been there.
And we promise that resurrection is coming.