OUR APPROACH
Practical — Designed to provide skills and methods, grounded in successful parish development efforts
Grounded in Anglican Spirituality and Identity — Focuses on the spirituality of the community, its character and culture; on the spirituality of leaders and its effect on the church community; and on models for development rooted in Anglican tradition.
Innovative — Draws on the emerging methods used in non-profit, corporate, and church organizations.
Competency Oriented — Equips leaders of parishes of all sizes with the resources they need. Our desired outcome is competent leadership on the part of parish and diocesan staff and consultants that is rooted in the experience, research, and methods of parish and organization development.
Community Centered — We come together as a learning community. We share responsibility for our learning and community life. We strive for an open, non-defensive climate in which there is an ability to give and receive supportive and challenging feedback.
ORIENTATION
1. We believe that parishes of all sizes can live a full Christian life. The task is to create a fit between their size, resources, and vision for ministry.
2. We believe that the parish church is a local expression of the Body of Christ, the People of God. The task is to build the parish’s life and future on a deep appreciation of its distinctive qualities and strengths.
3. We believe that parish development involves our striving as a community of faith, toward God. It is not primarily something we do, or create, or make happen. It is more the way in which a parish shares in the Divine Life; enters into and reflects the unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church. It is living the Christian life, not simply as individuals, but as a people. The task is for the parish to discern and act on the Spirit’s movement in its life.
4. We believe that there is much to learn and use from the research and experimentation of secular organizations. The task is to appropriately adapt those resources to the Church’s nature and mission.
5. We believe that the relationship between parishes and the diocese is important in the work of parish development. The task is to build a higher level of trust between parishes and dioceses and to help dioceses better organize themselves to enable parish development.
6. We believe that it is through the diocese that most parishes can best be resourced for their parish development efforts; not through national programs providing expert advice. The task is to build the capacity of dioceses for this ministry; to establish a significant number of skilled leaders, consultants and strategists in the diocese who are supported by a broader network of prayer, coaching, training, research and learning.
HISTORY
The work of the course is grounded in the disciplines of pastoral and ascetical theology, ecclesiology, organizational behavior, psychology and development.
Robert Gallagher, OA developed what became the Church Development Institute in 1978 for the Diocese of Pennsylvania as a two-year training program for parish development consultants. The program was expanded in 1981 as a two-year parish leadership-training program in the Diocese of Connecticut. In 1985 the Church Development Institute at General Theological Seminary was launched. You can find a more complete history at these pages.
The History of Parish Development in the Episcopal Church (as of March 2023)
Understanding from Within: Working with Religious Systems
SHAPING THE PARISH
There was an earlier version of Shaping the Parish (2011-12). It was a major shift in emphasis from CDI. It focused on revitalizing parishes in the short term while building long-term health. CDI and its spin offs often have the effect of revitalization but the process is less direct than in that first version of Shaping the Parish. As designed Shaping the Parish offered:
1) Both short-term improvement in parish health and long-term transformation
2) A focus on parish health and change rather than the development of the practitioner
3) Expected more of participants - parish interventions between all weekends, more reading
4) Gave significant attention to the spiritual practices and emotional intelligence of the participants.
5) Provided a high level of guidance and support to participants from the trainers throughout the program.
The program had excellent results. Possibly the best parish development offering in the church. However, it required significant financial support and a training staff with skills that were considerably more advanced than other programs. It was simply too demanding to easily replicate.