The Company of New Pastors
October 13, 2007
Click the image to enlarge
Yes that’s right - this is me in front of the Presbyterian version of Mecca: The Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. For those of you who aren’t Presbyterian, this is our headquarters. I was there for a weekend retreat of The Company of New Pastors (CNP) program for the denomination. Each Presbyterian seminary (and Fuller) has a CNP group of around 10 students who spend the year with faculty mentors (ours are Dean Nancy Gross and Dean Darrell Guder) and go through the ordination questions that we will all be asked when we get ordained. After graduating and finding our first call (job), we’ll be placed into regional groups of other pastors to provide for a sense of accountability and the chance to reflect on ministry with a small cohort of other pastors, with pastor mentors. It’s an interesting program and I’m not entirely sure what I think about it.
I hadn’t heard great things about the annual CNP conference (funded by Lilly - so we all got wined & dined). Many have wondered what the point was to bring everyone together. I felt some of that this year as well; there wasn’t a clear understanding of what the point of the weekend was. If it was to spend time with our own seminary groups, we could have just done that together somewhere closer to each of our seminaries. If the point was to get to know people from other seminaries, they need to be more pro-active about creating opportunities to get students from other seminaries to interact with others. It was difficult this year, because there have been some changes in the leadership, and Quinn Fox, the new Director of Company of New Pastors, worked his very first day on the first day of the conference - so he was learning the ropes right along us. I’m impressed with Quinn and his previous ministry experience and I’m sure he’ll do a great job with the Company of New Pastors, and hopefully will work on the annual conference for the future.
It was fun to get to know our group from Princeton better last weekend, and we did have a good last evening interacting with others from different schools. It just seems that our time could have been used more effectively during the weekend.
Tags: Company of New Pastors, Presbyterian
Posted in PC(USA)
Adam Walker Cleaveland: I am a 28 yr old 
October 13th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Very cool, that seems like it would be a lot of fun.
October 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Is the Pegasus an international symbol of the Presbyterian Church? :) Though being the PresHQ and being located in Louisville might mean it is a thoroughbred angel of some sorts…
What does your CNP group do with the faculty? I would think that a year in dialogue with Darrell Guder would be extremely rewarding! I just went through Missional Church, and am now reading through a volume of Allelon essays before I can get into more of his stuff.
I would love to know more about what you are doing in the CNP group, and what influence on direction and focus Guder’s participation might be having.
Also, any luck with your hard drive? I hope your MacBook finds a full recovery (of health & data)!
Peace,
Jason
October 15th, 2007 at 8:14 am
I’d like to hear more too.
Is the purpose to pull you all together for reflection/support? To prepare you for ordination/ministry?
All newly ordained PCUSA pastors were invited to “New Pastor” gatherings in the 80s the second or third year after ordination, but the purpose was essentially to keep people in professional ministry. Studies had shown that many left professional ministry 3-5 years after ordination because of burnout/no support, etc. GA shelved it due to cost.
Are you in this group throughout first years after seminary? Did you find that everyone had commonalities other than PCUSA connection? Were you missionally minded, for example, or merely the chosen ones? (Although I’m glad you were chosen.)
October 15th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Hey Adam!
Wow! After reading this post, I can’t believe that it’s been a year since Sarah, Troy, and I stood where you did (except we were wearing winter garb that weekend!)
Sorry to hear that the conference hasn’t changed much since last year. I hope as well that Quinn is able to use the feedback from your group to focus the weekend for next year’s cohort. Say hello and big hugs to Drs Guder and Gross and the rest of your crew. It’s a great opportunity to learn from the profs and each other.
Have a great week!