Updates

September 2011
  • Total grants awarded to date (from May 2003 to May 2011):
    • 154 Pastor Peer Learning Grants (first time grants)
    • 196 Pastor Peer Learning Grants (first time and renewal grants)
    • 17 Pastors’ Spouses’ Grants (first time grants)
    • 27 Pastors’ Spouses’ Grants (first time and renewal grants)
  • Since the beginning of the SPE Project (May 2003) there have been:
    • 757 CRC pastors from 600 CRC congregations involved in SPE Pastor Peer Groups (approximately 74% of all CRC pastors and 57% of all CRC congregations).  For more information on Pastor Peer Groups, click here. 
    • 127 pastors’ spouses from 107 congregations involved in SPE Pastors’ Spouses' Peer Groups.  For more information on Pastors' Spouses' Peer Groups, click here. 
  • Several SPE articles have been recently published.  To view them, please click here.
  • Funding for pastor peer groups, pastors' spouses' conferences, and pastor couple learning events will continue after Lilly Endowment funding ends.  To read the article, click here.
  • The fourth, and final, SPE survey of pastors and clerks will go out this fall.  A final report will be completed by next spring.  To see the first three survey reports, click here.
  • A group of 6 pastors and 6 seminary students participated in the June 2011 SPE/Calvin Theological Seminary Course (The Theology and Practice of Pastoral Ministry) held in Grand Rapids, MI.
  • Seventeen proposals for Pastors' Peer Learning Groups received funding in May 2011:
    • BCI Fleecers – BC
      Focus: God’s directives for the interior of BC
    • Covering the Gap – FL, GA, SC
      Focus: missional congregational pastors
    • D6 Ministry Group – AB
      Focus: helping equip parents in the spiritual training of their children
    • Deeper Journey Peer Learning Group – MI, ON
      Focus: spiritual disciplines
    • Disciples – BC
      Focus: spiritual formation and discipleship
    • East Meets West – BC, CO, CA, IA, MI, VA
      Focus: ministry, from a reformed perspective, to Chinese people
    • Journey Home – CA, NV
      Focus: healing and restoration
    • KIM 3 – CA
      Focus: being well-prepared, healthy pastors
    • Korean American Reformed Pastors’ Study Group – IL, MI, ON
      Focus: the morality of the Korean American church
    • Maritime Pastors’ Peer Learning Group – NB, NS, PEI
      Focus: engaging popular culture from a gospel perspective
    • No More Blind Leading the Blind – MI
      Focus: next generation of leaders
    • The B.A.P.T.I.S.T.S – CA
      Focus: supporting, and encouraging health and growth, among the group members
    • The Journey In Meets the Journey Out – MI, ON
      Focus: setting, and building on, a good foundation for lifelong ministry
    • The Northern Connection – MI
      Focus: becoming extra ordinary small town pastors
    • The Prairie Home Companions – MN
      Focus: reflection on significant books relating to ministry
    • The Transformers – WA
      Focus: transformational networks in the Americas
    • WAIT – ON
      Focus: nurturing the pastor’s inner life
  • Work has begun on the final SPE training tool which will focus on search committees.  The publication will be available early in 2012.  A copy will be sent to every pastor and clerk of council. To see training tools published to date, click here.
  • Four proposals for Pastors' Spouses' groups received funding in April 2011:
    • A Safe Place – CA
      Focus: to provide a safe environment to support and encourage one another and to grow in faith and friendship
    • MAPS (Muskegon Area Pastors' Spouses) – MI
      Focus: offering support, encouragement, and prayers for one another while sharing in faith, fellowship, and learning
    • Muskegon Classis - Fremont Area Pastor's Wives Support Group – MI
      Focus: to offer support, encouragement, and prayers through fellowship and learning together
    • The Isolated Eight – BC
      Focus: providing a safe place to develop relationships, enfold new members, and encourage and support one another
  • An SPE learning event for pastor couples will be held October 12-14, 2011 on Mackinac Island, MI.  The topic will be “Recognizing and Navigating the Small and Big Transitions of Life and Ministry.”
  • The Peer Learning Group Coordinators' Meeting will be held November 16, 2011 in Grand Rapids, MI. 
  • The next Pastors’ Spouses’ Conference will be held November 6-8, 2012 in Miami, FL.   Brochures will be mailed to all pastors' spouses early in 2012.