Highlights from "Congregations as 'Multivocal' Mentoring Cultures: Comparative Research among Three Protestant Denominations" – a study by Penny Marler (Samford University), Charles E. Stokes (University of Texas, Austin) and Kristin Taylor Curtis (Samford University).

What makes for strong mentoring congregations for those discerning a call to ministry?

A recent survey conducted by the Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence at Samford University highlights several characteristics. The Center asked for responses from Southern Baptist (150), Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) (174), and Episcopal Church (62) congregations in Alabama. Three major factors contributed to this success:

• Larger numbers of paid staff, which amounts in the respondents' vision, to greater access to "available models" for ordained ministry.
• The extent to which congregational leaders and mentors balance "inviting questions and supporting struggle with providing answers and encouraging decisions" around the process of a candidate's call.
• Mentors and mentoring groups intentionally organized to assist young and aspiring ministers with ministerial practice and vocational discernment.

One congregation from each tradition was singled out for a case study narrative. A common element among the three was the intentional way they established hospitable space – for visitors and newcomers as well as for longtime members. Prominent aspects of this hospitality included worship and the deliberate cultivation of mentoring environments.

• The Baptist congregation cited their emphasis on the "priesthood of all believers" as an important aspect of their mentoring culture. The age range of mentors is wide and includes lay people as well as pastoral staff.
• The Episcopal congregation cited the necessity of not "quenching the Spirit" but encouraging each one to take part in whatever ministry or service they find inspiring. In turn, members also named friendship in ministry or service as the ground from which genuine mentoring relationships emerge.
• The CME congregation stressed the invitational character of worship – one that enjoins bodily movement and participation – in a context that seeks out the newcomer. They also demonstrated a "family" consciousness that extends beyond worship and program times into members' lives in the larger community. Longer-term pastorates and the church's "involving culture" were additional factors congregants referred to when asked why theirs was a "calling congregation."

The Baptist and Episcopal congregations named other dependent factors:

• Suburban church location and relatively young congregants.
• Size of regular worship attendance and active membership (larger numbers for both are strongly related to the number of ministerial candidates).
• Regular involvement of younger people and ordination candidates as worship leaders.

For CME congregations, the number of candidates for ministry bears a high relation to these factors:

• Strong worship attendance.
• Strong student programs, including those which invite youth participation in worship and consistent invitations to mentoring from older adults.
• Financial health – which bears a significant relationship to the number of paid staff.

Survey participants also cited the nature of each denomination's spiritual heritage as marks of providing the support required for those on a path of vocational discernment.

• Baptists balance "in-reach" (discipleship, discernment of gifts, stewardship) with outreach (community service and mission programs).
• Episcopal congregations cited programs of Bible study, exploration of gifts for ministry and discipleship and service to the world in a liturgically centered environment.
• CME congregants, younger and older, referred to one-on-one mentoring – often lasting well beyond one's membership in a congregation – as a strong factor in encouraging vocations to ministry.
• CME churches also cited encouraging leadership development in environments that allowed for mistakes with a certain confidence that "all will be well."

The researchers suggest, similar to Sharon Daloz Parks ("Big Questions, Worthy Dreams") that, beyond these characteristics, strong mentoring environments are "this and that" rather than "either/or" cultures. They balance being committed, stable, predictable and safe with being challenging or "innovative and involved." They balance "in-reach" (worship, devotion, mentoring) with outreach (service and missions).

The researchers also stated that, "robust congregations tend to nurture what Daloz et al. (1996) call 'double negative' vocational commitments. Individuals mentored in such contexts say they 'can't not' pursue their vocations."

To read the full text of this study, visit Samford University's Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence online.