AMiA Churches Partner with Made to Flourish

By Dustin+ Freeman and Dustin+ Messer

The AMIA has long recognized that leadership development is an essential part of its mission to reach the lost in America. With pastoral burnout rates climbing and seminary enrollment in decline, this is an ever-more important and challenging call.

In response, four AMiA churches have begun partnering with Made to Flourish, a Kansas City-based nonprofit that helps local churches develop pastoral residency programs—think of them as “teaching hospitals” for ministry. Residency, a period of hands-on training after medical school, is necessary preparation for new doctors as they move from theory to practice. New pastors need the same kind of practical training after seminary, and churches partnering with Made to Flourish offer two to three years of this kind of hands-on training in healthy churches under seasoned leaders.

Pastoral residents are more than interns—they are full-time ministry staff given responsibilities designed to prepare them for a lifetime of leadership. Each resident is a strategic investment that will deepen the capacity of our local churches to do ministry, while simultaneously equipping and spreading a new generation of three-stream leadership in the U.S.

As an example of what a residency will look like, we can look at the plan provided by All Saints Dallas. Ross Earley will serve as the inaugural resident at ASD. Ross is finishing up his theological studies at Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas and looks forward to spending his life pastoring in the Anglican Mission. His first year in the residency will be divided into three parts, each part meant to expose him to the depth, breadth and pace of pastoral ministry.

A third of his time will be spent working with kids. On Sundays, he’ll teach fourth and fifth grade Sunday school. During the week, he’ll learn the intricacies of organizing a catechetical schema that walks kids through the basics of the Christian faith in preparation for confirmation. Additionally, certain administrative responsibilities will be entrusted to him: The goldfish crackers aren’t going to order themselves, after all.

Additionally, Ross will organize and lead All Saints’ Alpha program. In leading Alpha, Ross will be exposed to the “front porch” of ministry, working with skeptics not ready to enter the church but open to a shared meal and deep conversation. As with kids’ ministry, Alpha has an administrative component. Ross will organize table leaders, train them in best conversation practices and ensure all the elements needed for hospitality are present: The tacos aren’t going to order themselves, after all.

Ross will spend the remainder of his time learning the ins and outs of shepherding a congregation. He will attend both clergy and vestry meetings, allowing him to see what goes into the planning of a Sunday liturgy and a yearly budget. Ross will have plenty of opportunities to grow in his preaching gift at both our weekly noonday service and our morning prayer service. He will likewise tag along to hospital visits, house blessings and the like: The souls aren’t going to cure themselves, after all.

Made to Flourish offers funding through grants, which All Saints Dallas, St. Bart’s, the Abbey at Pawley’s Island and St. Andrew’s have been awarded, along with ongoing coaching and support, while each church will develop their own programs and hire their own residents. Participating AMiA churches also plan to partner with each other, sharing know-how and resources to create an even richer experience for our residents.

Residents are currently being recruited and hired, so be on the lookout for these new faces in your churches! Their preparation is something that we will all be a part of and benefit from. Thank you for joining us in raising up laborers for a harvest that is still plentiful!

Dustin+ Freeman has served as associate pastor at St. Andrew’s for the past decade, after previously serving as a missionary church planter in Mali, West Africa. He holds a Master of Public Service from the University of Arkansas’ Clinton School and a Master of Theology and Mission from Northern Seminary. He and his wife, Beth, have five sons between the ages of 13 and 2, who make the beauty and urgency of Jesus’ command to make disciples very real every day.

The Rev. Dr. Dustin Messer serves as Vicar at All Saints Dallas in downtown Dallas, TX. Additionally, Dustin is a regular contributor to The Gospel Coalition and teaches in the department of religious and theological studies at The King’s College in New York, NY. A graduate of Boyce College and Covenant Theological Seminary, Dustin earned a doctorate in ethics at La Salle University and went on to complete a fellowship at the Center for the Study of Statesmanship at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Along with his work in local parish ministry, Dustin has served in positions of leadership for a number renewal organizations within the broader Anglican church, including the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC). Dustin is married to his college sweetheart, Whitney, and they have two children.