Leadership Communities

Leadership Communities are a proven process to help church leader teams achieve twice the results in half the time. Peer groups of 10-12 teams are formed to help dream, create and execute ideas into real action and tangible results.

Leadership Communities are being formed in the following areas for 2013:

What's Next Leadership Community

We are looking for leaders that are actively thinking about the next chapter of their church’s ministry. Leaders realize that no matter how well things are going now or how strong their current ministry approaches are, they must constantly be thinking about the future. This new Leadership Community will involve interactive working sessions where you will be exposed to new ideas from the Church and other sectors including business, science and the arts. You will build models of what the future may look like and then rebuild them for your church based on the feedback from other teams. You will develop measurable plans that will lead to real results for your church. In short, your team will move from creative ideas to actionable implementation leading to powerful impact. Since the ideas and plans that will be explored and developed will be central to the direction of your church, we will require the involvement of a Lead/Senior Pastor and a minimum of four additional senior level decision-makers at each gathering. Leadership Network "alumni" are pre-qualified for this event but anyone is welcome and encouraged to request contact or apply for an interview.

For more details please visit the What’s Next Leadership Community webpage.

For more information contact Greg Ligon at greg.ligon@leadnet.org or complete the What’s Next Contact form and we will get in touch with you.

Beyond Digital Leadership Community

Over the past few years, a ‘digital wave’ has been sweeping across our world, changing lifestyles and creating opportunities like nothing we’ve seen before. And its gaining momentum with each passing day. You don’t have to look far to find statistical evidence of the shifts taking place that impact how we live, work, relate to one another, and do church.

The Beyond Digital Leadership Community brings together innovative church leaders who place a high strategic value on digital tools, tactics, and spaces for accomplishing their church’s mission. These are churches that have made a significant investment in “going digital”, but also recognize that having apps or an internet campus isn’t the extent of their digital reach. There is more to be discovered, much more.

Using the latest research, input, and models from digital strategists across multiple sectors, the Beyond Digital Leadership Community will explore key questions, opportunities, and obstacles related to “all things digital”, leveraging the group’s combined resources, experience, and expertise to develop new models and strategies that will multiply the impact of churches throughout the digital space. Church leaders will be challenged to bring their best technological minds alongside their deepest pastoral hearts to maximize the strength of a balanced, creative team. The result will be the deployment of the most innovative digital tools of our time for the accomplishment of the timeless mission of the Church. For this group we are looking for churches with a weekly worship attendance (adults and children) of 2000+

For more details please visit the Beyond Digital webpage

If your leadership team is seeking to explore “what’s next” in the digital landscape to more effectively achieve your Kingdom mission, we want to hear from you. Contact Tim Nations at tim.nations@leadnet.org or complete the Beyond Digital contact form and we will get in touch with you.

Global Connection Churches

Peter Drucker reminds us that any organization that does not change as quickly as the world around them is doomed to failure. Our globalized, flat and connected world has changed and yet many global mission’s efforts are simply iterations of what we have done for the last 160 years. The Global Connections Leadership Community (GXLC) will focus on breakthrough ideas of increasing missional effectiveness on both the going and receiving sides of missions in view of new global realities of mutuality, partnering, cities, business as mission, etc.

The ultimate goal and outcome of this LC is to accelerate the learning, knowledge and application of innovative approaches to global missions. We serve your vision, goals, and objectives. However, specific outcomes may include the following:

A significant increase in number of people engaged in global missions
A significant increase in results per dollar spent
A significant increase in the number of people served / reached through global missions
Development of collaborative relationships with innovative church leaders
Increased growth of those who go—both short-term and long term
Development of new missional, approaches, and resources that serve the “broader church.”

For more information contact Eric Swanson at eric.swanson@leadnet.org

Missional Renaissance

The Missional Renaissance Leadership Community combines church leaders with key influencers from the private, public and social sectors of their cities—such as business executives, school superintendents and nonprofit leaders—to tackle huge societal issues like poverty, hunger, disease and mal-education. These cross-sector teams come together as a strong force and create a unity across interests and occupations for a greater collective impact. The churches involved are creating a new scorecard for the missional church.

To see churches that are participating in our Missional Renaissance Leadership Communities, click here.

For more information contact Reggie McNeal at reggie.mcneal@leadnet.org

Leadership Development

Leadership Development is the #1 issue leaders mention when we ask them to list their most urgent ministry challenges.

Churches need leaders at all levels, serving in all areas of ministry, inside and outside the walls of the church. The Leadership Development Community groups address this critical need. Ministry leaders, together with Leadership Network’s team of facilitators and coaches, explore the various elements of leadership development while working toward achieving bold, new goals in leader development.

For more information on the Leadership Development Leadership Community, click here or contact Brent Dolfo at brent.dolfo@leadnet.org.

Multiethnic Churches

Is the American church ready and willing to reach an increasingly multiethnic, multi cultural, diverse population for the Kingdom?

Consider these research findings:

92.5% of American churches are racially segregated.*
80%+ of individual membership in American churches is comprised of a single, homogenous people group.*
American churches are ten times more segregated than the neighborhoods where they are located.**
American churches are 20 times more segregated than the public schools in their neighborhoods.**
Between 1990 and 2007, church attendance in America increased by 446,540 though the population in general increased by 56,819,471.***

For the past few years, Leadership Network has quietly tracked the rising interest in multiethnic churches in various locations throughout the U.S. From establishing new multiethnic church plants to transitioning traditional and contemporary churches to multi ethnic churches, we continue to observe evidence that this new movement of churches is gaining momentum. We’ve been patiently waiting for the right moment to convene the inaugural group of multiethnic churches for our leadership community group experience. The right moment has arrived. We began the multiethnic church leadership community experience in December 2011.

For more information, click here or contact Linda Stanley at linda.stanley@leadnet.org

* Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided by Faith, Oxford University Press, 2001
** ibid, from the same updated study, 2007
*** Dave T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis, Zondervan, 2008

Marriage Ministry

Many of the challenges that your church is facing would be positively impacted if the marriages and families in your church were healthy and strong. Today, perhaps more than ever, the church needs to have a comprehensive strategy for supporting the marriages in the church and community. This leadership community will expose your team to the best and most effective models of marriage ministry in the church today and will challenge you to create a plan that will be effective in your unique church environment.

For more details and to submit an application visit the Marriage Ministry Leadership Community webpage.

For more information contact Chris Willard at chris.willard@leadnet.org or complete the Marriage Ministry Contact Form and we will get in touch with you.

Churches with Nonprofit / Charity Organizations

In our ever-changing and increasingly challenging economy, churches are often looking for ways to serve their communities through various not-for-profit ventures. Recognizing that this is an emerging trend, Leadership Network is launching a two year Leadership Community for Churches with Nonprofit / Charity Organizations. This community is designed for churches that have already launched a nonprofit venture and are wanting to learn from others and collaborate in helping each other maximize their efforts and effectiveness. What models exist, what are potential pitfalls, and usable metrics? What does 'great' look like in a non-profit?

For additional details and to submit an application to interview, visit our Churches with Nonprofit / Charity Organizations Leadership Community Page.

For more information, contact Wayne Smith.

Life Stage Communities

Life Stage Leadership Communities are for Senior/Lead/Directional Pastors only:

Life Stage Leadership Community groups create relational peer networks of senior pastors who share similar ministry challenges and desire connections to other pastors serving in similar ministry stages. Beyond relational connections, pastors have opportunities to exchange ideas and ministry methodologies, deepen personal leadership qualities, and encourage and pray for one another. Life Stage Leadership Communities are for Senior/Lead/Directional Pastors only.

Next Generation Pastors – 25-45 years old, 3+ years of lead pastor experience, church weekend worship attendance 800+
Senior Pastor 2 – 45+ years old, 10+ years of lead pastor experience, church weekend worship attendance 2500+

You can find more details on Life Stage Groups here or by contacting Linda.stanley@leadnet.org

European Multi-Site Church Planting

For churches operating across multiple locations: one church in many places. The objective for this community will be to explore how existing churches can plant new congregations without having to reproduce the infrastructure and governance mechanisms.

Click here for more information, case studies and additional resources.

European Young Senior Leaders of Rapid Growing Churches

For churches experiencing rapid growth, usually with younger leadership teams (i.e. senior leaders under 50). I-3 churches are typically innovative in approach, creating significant impact and emerging as national influencers. The objective for this community will be to learn from one another’s models, and to explore models for accelerating growth.

Click here for more information, case studies and additional resources.