Together in Ministry is designed to renew, revitalize and nurture pastors and other ministry professionals through a combination of small group and large group gatherings. Its intent is to nurture and stimulate participants spiritually, intellectually, and academically, as well as to provide peer support and collegiality.
Goals of Together in Ministry
Promote health and wholeness in mind, in body, and in spirit for the church's ministry leaders throughout the Northern Plains region.
Support and strengthen participants with a variety of holistic renewal experiences in both small and large group settings.
Help pastors and ministry professionals remain refreshed, informed, and healthy emotionally, spiritually, and professionally.
How Does Together in Ministry Work?
Colleague Groups: Pastors and other ministry professionals meet monthly in small Colleague Groups close to home to pray together, do text studies, book studies, or whatever each Colleague Group decides will be most beneficial to that group. Colleague Group Facilitators are program participants who are trained and supervised to strengthen and support their facilitation skills. Participants give and receive support as well as worship, pray, study, and build caring relationships. For one group's perspective on Colleague Groups, click here.
If you do not feel the need to participate in these Colleague Groups, however, you are welcome to participate in the TiM large group gatherings.
Large Group Gatherings: Large group gatherings are intended to provide opportunities for the participants to "fill their cups" and be nurtured in a way that most suits them. We are planning a large group gathering in conjunction with the Proclamation on the Plains Conference in January. This gathering will consist of a two or three night stay with evening sessions offered by a resource person from Luther Seminary, and morning sessions which will offer time for reflection, study, and conversation.
Together in Ministry Leadership
A Leadership Team, recruits participants, establishes policies and programming, and devises large group topics based on participants' needs and requests. The goal of the Leadership Team is to listen to and respond to the grass roots needs of TiM partcipants and work to meet those needs.
As you consider becoming part of the program, talk over the commitment with the leadership of your congregation or sponsoring institution. At this point, there are no fees for joining, although there may be a fee of no more than $100 for the large group gathering. Scholarship funding is available for travel costs and the large group gathering if cost is a barrier to participation.
Please let Sarah Stenson at sstenson@augie.edu know you would like to be part of this program. We will then let you know what small group you can join.