Conferences to Explore Clergy Development Resources
Diocesan Press Service. August 25, 1975 [75290]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Ad Hoc Committee on Clergy Development will present its report on "Resources for Clergy Development" at two identical conferences this fall in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 11th and 12th, and in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 13th and 14th. The report, three years in the making, was sponsored by The Episcopal Church Foundation.
Beginning in 1972 this group of clergy and lay compensation experts, with the Rev. John D. McCarty, rector of St. Stephen's Church in Sebastopol, California, as chairman, began to test various ways to improve clergy compensation in six sample dioceses. They soon discover that compensation, accountability and stewardship -- each a key element in clergy development -- are closely interrelated in their effect on the quality of parish life and the development of parish leadership.
It also became clear that each diocese would require its own special techniques and that no single plan could be uniformly useful. The Committee therefore underwrote formal studies in six representative dioceses with matching funds contributed by The Episcopal Church Foundation and the participating dioceses: Mississippi, Central Gulf Coast, Oklahoma, California, Nevada, and Quincy.
The Rev. Edward R. Sims, rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, is chairman of the meetings. He said, "We are eager to report to concerned clergy and laity what we have discovered that churches are doing to meet this timeless problem."
"At the November meetings," he added, "detailed presentations will be made on compensation, accountability and stewardship, drawing on the experience gained from each of the six diocesan programs and other efforts we have discovered in the course of our work. The conferences will include reporting and workshop sessions, as well as opportunities for the sharing of local experience."
Participants will pay their own transportation costs, plus a registration fee that covers partial room and board; the balance will be met by The Episcopal Church Foundation. Those interested in attending are urged to write at once for further information to: Ad Hoc Committee on Clergy Development, 815 Second Avenue, Room 400, New York, N.Y. 10017.