Church Leadership Development
Leadership coaching, support, and communal learning
Church leadership asks a lot of you. God asks you to do things as a leader that challenge you, energize you, exhaust you, and scare you. And you’re never done learning to lead. Each day brings new leadership challenges and hard choices, even for the most experienced leaders.
Whether you’re a pastor, elder, deacon, or lay leader, our goal is to ensure you have the support you need to follow God’s call to lead. Sometimes that means supporting you on your personal leadership journey, and sometimes it’s about helping your church raise up and care for leaders.
What leadership challenges are you facing?
Self leadership
Are you constantly stressed, overwhelmed, or on the edge of burnout? Are those closest to you just getting your “leftovers” at the end of the day? We get it. You’re busy. But getting to everything on your to-do list can’t come at the expense of your wellbeing or the people you love most. If you can’t lead yourself, how will you lead others?
Team leadership
Is your team highly motivated, fully engaged, and remarkably focused? Or is your team plagued with low morale, poor communication, and lack of clarity or direction? The hidden cost of all these negative team dynamics is extremely high.
The problem is that most supervisors are unaware of the many challenges their teams face. The result is a lack of trust.
Organizational leadership
How are you helping others to lead well in your church? God can do more through your church when you embrace the gifts of the whole body. Church leadership today has to be adaptive. Embodying the gospel in our rapidly changing culture requires creativity, collaboration, and the humility to lift up someone else to lead.
Get the support you need to grow your leadership
Here are a few ways we offer support to church leaders. If these tools aren’t a fit for you, you have other options. We are happy to schedule a phone or video call with you to learn more about your situation and help you figure out your next step.
Coaching
Even the best leaders can benefit from having a coach. All of us have areas we can grow. What you’re called to do as a leader is also constantly shifting. A coach can help you navigate the challenges of adaptive leadership.
Spiritual direction
A spiritual director acts as a companion, listening for the movement of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. Pastors do this work for others, but may not have anyone who helps them hear the Holy Spirit in their own lives. Spiritual directors can provide that spiritual support for pastors or for any Christian seeking greater spiritual direction.
Pastoral leadership cohort
Journey through a nine-month training intensive for senior church leaders who long for deeper transformation in themselves and the world around them. In this communal learning process, you’ll grow your capacity to lead yourself, lead others, and lead change in the world around you. Email leadership@rca.org for more information and to apply for the next cohort.
Personal consultation
If you need advice about something specific or help figuring out your next step, our team would be happy to connect with you one-on-one. Just email leadership@rca.org to let us know you’d like to connect. We can meet with you by phone or video call to discuss what you’re navigating as a leader and help you figure out your next step.
Opportunities and support for specific types of leaders:
Connect with us
Sung Kim
Sung loves to disrupt the status quo, but not so much that this former New Yorker won’t cheer for the Big Ten home team in Ann Arbor where he is also pastor of a growing church. In addition to sporting maize and blue, Sung is an avid consumer of artisan coffee and craft beer—two things Ann Arbor has plenty of! He is highly visionary, thoroughly pragmatic, and always curious about what makes people tick and what makes organizations great.
Email address: skim@rca.org
Andy Bossardet
Andy has no problem laughing at life’s oddities or finding the perfect meme. He also craves authenticity. As an experienced coach, mentor, and pastor, he fundamentally believes that ministry is about staying with people through their dark times (including his own). He’s driven by discovery—the “what’s next?” conversations that often happen in coaching—and lives to interrupt daily routines in order to inspire growth.
Email address: abossardet@rca.org
Eduardo Rodriguez
Ed is a creative and collaborative team player who is passionate about church, mission, and giving leaders the tools they need to transform their communities. He has lots of experience working with church planters and in community development settings. A foodie, Ed loves to cook and explore new foods and restaurants.
Email address: erodriguez@rca.org
