Fresh Start curriculum

Yesterday I spent the day at a "Fresh Start" conference in tiny St. Mark's Church in Montesano. Fresh Start is a program designed by the national church to help clergy as they are entering a new congregation. The church recognizes that this time of transition is a critical time in the life of a parish, and they want to help make successful transitions.

I'm part of a Fresh Start group of about 18 clergy. We meet about once a month except during the summer, and the program is designed to take a year to complete. Each month the presenters introduce one of the modules of the program for us to study. This month it was "Leadership for Our Times".

We talked about what makes a good leader, and how different situations may call for different kinds of leadership. Then we took a self-assessment quiz to define what our leadership style is.

There are four leadership styles:

• Relater - Works harmoniously well with others and looks for cues from others about leading change
  
• Promoter - Loves to hear stimulating ideas about change and create the conditions for change
  
• Analyzer - Studies a situation very carefully and justifies change with a rational analysis
  
• Director - Likes to lead change decisively, and works in a business-like manner

My self-assessment showed that I'm split between the "Relater" and Promoter" styles. I guess that's probably accurate.

I learned about leadership, but what I really liked was talking with other clergy and learning from them. There were some talented people there, and I got some good ideas and inspiration from them.
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