In January of 2018, pastors and church leaders were invited to help “jump start” the Vital Congregations Pilot Initiative that Trinity Presbytery had been selected to participate in, along with nine other presbyteries across the denomination. Dr. Phyllis Sanders and the Rev. Dr. Chris Denny served as facilitators, and Dr. Sanders joined the staff of Trinity Presbytery as the Vital Congregations Coordinator.
That was almost four years ago. The First Class Pastor Cohort, following the course charted by the bold pastors and elders of the Pilot Cohort, was the first to implement the full concept of Vital Congregations and is now in the final year of its journey through the Vital Congregations Training. The collective insight and wisdom from the work of these two cohorts led the way for Trinity Presbytery to offer opportunities for more churches to participate in becoming Vital Congregations.
“Behold, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Who Can be a Member of the Next Vital Congregations Cohort?
One of the foundational scriptures of Vital Congregations is Isaiah 43:19. God continues to do a new thing. This Initiative started with the focus being on equipping, training and empowering the pastors in the work of Vital Congregations. Dr. Sanders realized, through the workshops in 2021 with the congregations of the pastor cohorts, that there was another part of the Vital Congregations Initiative that needed to be explored. She observed leadership qualities emerging in lay participants.
This observation sparked a ‘new thing’ springing up:
A Congregational Cohort Model – a cohort that can include pastors and members of congregations, or all congregational leaders and members. A Congregation Cohort can have up to seven (7) members, and would need the approval of the session of the church. This is good news for our congregations, even for those churches without a called, installed pastor.
To learn more about how your congregation can participate in this new Congregational Cohort Model, as well as workshops that will be offered to congregations in 2022, sign up for one of two
Vital Congregations Interest Sessions being offered via Zoom:
Thursday, October 7th at 6 p.m.
Monday, October 11th at 10 a.m.
These virtual sessions will be held via Zoom and will last approximately 45 Minutes.
Bring your questions and invite others from your church.
A Zoom meeting link will be e-mailed to you.
