Pastor Partners is an initiative of Grow in Grace that seeks to provide a system of support and encouragement for pastors from “seminary to sunset.” While being thankful for the support and encouragement that often happens informally brother to brother, Pastor Partners seeks to further support that by making more formal avenues of encouragement readily available.
Pastor Partners provides mentoring for Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary graduates for the first three years of their ministry. Pastor Partners is also seeking to provide trained “pastor-coaches” to serve more experienced pastors. Experienced pastors could call upon such trained coaches to partner with them as they seek to pursue spiritual and professional growth.
Coordinated with the mentoring and coaching elements of Pastor Partners, are four Celebrations of Ministry retreats for pastors and wives at key ministry milestones. These retreats are:
- Begun in Grace – for pastors and their wives three years into the ministry. This retreat marks the formal end of the mentoring program, celebrates a ministry begun well in God’s grace, and helps young pastors prepare for the challenges that await them in the years ahead.
- Renewed in Grace – for pastors and their wives ten years into their ministry. This retreat seeks to provide gospel encouragement to thrive in the “middle years” of ministry as they seek to find the strength of God’s grace to maintain joy and zeal in the midst of the challenges of pastoral ministry.
- Finishing Well in Grace – for pastors and their wives twenty five years into their ministry. This retreat focuses on continuing to grow in ministry right through the last decade or two of full time service,
- Completed in Grace – for pastors and their wives as they reach retirement. This retreat gives thanks to God for ministry-long blessings of grace and anticipates new paths of service that God may open up in the retirement years.
The goal is to fund Pastor Partners through the congregations as congregations realize that helping their pastors (and spouses) to participate in Pastor Partners mentoring, coaching, and celebrations of ministry is indeed a wise investment in gospel ministry.