Peer groups make life better

By Janet Maykus, Executive Vice President for Operations and Organizational Development, Church Extension Financial and Missional Resources Loneliness and isolation plague today's pastoral leaders. Rapid changes in modern Christianity result in the contemporary understanding of church participation as one of any number of volunteer opportunities, smaller budgets and fewer staff to lead congregations. As a result, ministers find themselves pulled in every direction without the support of "real" friends. Because of these changes, pastoral peer groups are more important than ever. When orchestrated well and with clear intention, people involved in these groups report renewed calls to ministry, that they are better listeners, that their physical, emotional and spiritual lives are healthier, that they are more courageous leaders, and that their congregations benefit in tangible ways from their participation. Studies find that one of the leading predictors of numerical congregational growth was the length of time a pastor was involved in a peer group. Additionally, ministers who participate in sustained peer groups are more likely to be involved in the communities around them, as were the congregations they lead. In 2002, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. set in motion the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) Initiative. Within ten years, this wide-ranging program directly touched at least 33,000 of the 320,000 Christian congregations in the United States. This remains one of the largest pastoral enrichment experiments in the history of the church in America. Representing nearly every Christian tradition, the SPE projects focused primarily on creating peer support/learning groups. These groups were places where sustained biblical study, spiritual renewal, leadership evaluation, development of friendships, and opportunities to pursue creative endeavors could blossom. How do you create a peer group? Peer groups can be organized in a variety of ways. Some designs are better suited to men, some to women, some to those new in ministry, and some to those in mid or late career. All the methods of successful peer groups contained elements of covenanted learning that allowed for maximum group participation and decision making, were safe spaces, and both challenged and supported the participants. (Chalice Press) is a thorough report and analysis of the largest study made of the effects of participation in pastoral leader peer groups through this SPE initiative. It includes narratives of seven different types of peer groups, suggestions and tools for creating and evaluating your own peer groups, and some of the peer group resources that were created as a result of the SPE Initiative.
So Much Better: How Thousands of Pastors Help Each Other Thrive