Tools to Begin Taking Action in the Community
Community Tool Box – A Model for Getting Started: frameworks for guiding, supporting, and evaluating the work of community and system change.
A Simple Approach: Creating A Vision for your Parish
S.W.O.T Analysis: Review the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing your organization. Explore how to carry out a SWOT analysis and how to put your findings into action. We also include an example and a template to help you get started on a SWOT analysis in your own workplace.
Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCDI)
The ABCD Network is comprised of folks who care deeply about resident-centered community development. It has a 30+ year history of supporting local communities to create positive and sustainable change using the skills, assets and talents community members have within their own neighborhoods. The ABCD Network continues to grow and support all types of practitioners in asset-based community development theory and practice; from local grassroots organizations to non-profits, higher education, and philanthropy.
ABCDI and its network of ABCD practitioners aim to create a paradigm shift in the way the field of community development operates and centers residents in decision-making. It aims to create resilient and thriving communities by teaching local people and organizations how to identify, nurture, and mobilize existing community assets and talents for change.
Called to Transformation: An Asset-Based Approach to Engaging Church and Community
Following the belief that individuals, groups, and communities have the gifts they need to address the needs they see around them. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that each of us are given different gifts to serve the community and we are all a part of the body of Christ working together.
This organization supports everyone working to achieve racial equity.
It offers tools, research, tips, curricula, and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and helps those working for racial justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities, and the culture at large.
Check out these articles:
- A Different Kind of Power: How Authentic Relational Conversations Lay the Groundwork for Democratic Renewal
- From “Them” to “Ours”: Framing Strategies for Talking about Immigrant Youth
- The Climate Movement Must Be A Movement Against Fascism
- The Blackout Report: The Real-World Cost of Erasing, Distorting, and Suppressing Black Progress
- A Bigger We
Continued Child-Centered Learning:
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary: Certificate in Child Advocacy
Fulfill your Christian calling to love God and serve your neighbor through public ministries of advocacy, organizing, and justice-making on behalf of children.
Enhance your public work of serving in community, social, or justice-oriented organizations, including schools, by engaging with foundational knowledge of the Bible and theology to develop skills for the practice of child advocacy.
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary: Certificate in Christian Education
Develop skills for the practice of Christian education with adults, youth, and children in a wide variety of settings. This 15 credit hour program includes the following courses:
- Teaching for Biblical Faith
- Theological Education in the Parish
- Educating Christians for Social Change
- Introduction to Youth Ministry
- Emancipatory Pedagogy
Esteem Youth Leadership Formation
ESTEEM youth leadership formation: Engaging students to enliven the ecclesial mission
Catholic leaders must create a seat at the leadership table and a voice in decision-making for young adults in the church today.
The ESTEEM program was founded as a joint partnership between Leadership Roundtable and Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University to develop the next generation of Catholic leaders to serve in these roles. The Esteem program trains, encourages, and supports young adults at colleges and universities across the United States in their baptismal call to use their gifts and talents in service to the Church.
The Esteem program is designed to assist young adult participants to:
- Reflect on themselves, their talents, and their call to leadership
- Participate in a community of similarly talented, dedicated young adults
- Discover ways to exercise leadership in the church
Continued Learning in Church Management:
Lake Institute on Faith and Giving
Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising
Gain deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and giving, through research, education, and public conversation. This program assists pastors and ministry leaders to turn the conversation from money to generosity exploring cultural change within a parish. Learn how to increase weekly offerings and prepare for capital campaigns.
The Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising (ECRF) is an eight-week online course with a practical application project. Get the research tools and customized training you need to meet the growing needs of your religious communities and to raise funds for your faith-based organization. ECRF focuses on the cultural, organizational, and philanthropic practices unique to religious institutions. Learn how to enable donors motivated by spiritual and religious values to experience the joy of generous giving.
Villanova University: Church Management
Villanova University’s Certificate in Church Management enables current and future church leaders to steward the human, financial, and other resources of the church by teaching business best practices in a Christian context of mission and ministry. They offer a Certificate in Church Management, as well as conduct programs in church management throughout the year. Villanova offers a series of the following twelve 90-minute web seminars that offer participants the most current church management practices, designed uniquely for faith-based organizations:
- Church Management in Mission-Driven Churches
- Leading Councils and Teams
- Civil Law
- Virtual Presence and Communications
- Financial reporting
- Spirituality of Administration
- Human Resources and People Management
- Budgeting and Allocating Resources
- Leadership Development
- Church Security & Facilities Management
- Taking the Pulse of Your People
- Strategic Pastoral Planning
Villanova School of Business’s Center for Church Management, in partnership with the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), has developed the Certificate in Catholic Schools Management to help fill the gaps in learning for Catholic school principals, vice principals, presidents, and rising leaders. The program equips school leaders with the tools they will need to successfully guide our Catholic schools for years to come and to continue the legacy of this invaluable component of our church. The Certificate in Catholic School Management is a unique program designed to enhance management skills and deepen the spirit of leadership.
Garrett Evangelical Financial Leadership Series for Churches
The Financial Leadership Series for Churches is designed to equip congregational leaders with financial tools and knowledge to grow greater financial wisdom, integrity and sustainability, regardless of your ministry context, fiscal position or financial health. Investing in your leadership will grow your capacity and your ministry!
The Series will cover three modules of financial stewardship content for churches. Participants can sign up for all three or individual modules to meet their ministry goals and vocational needs. Each module, held in an online format, will explore one of three recognized qualities which correlate with growth in generosity:
- Belief in the mission
- Trust in leadership
- Sound financial practices
Leading Vibrant Congregations: A Collaboration of Faith and Finance
Enabling clergy to work with their members to make sound business decisions in the context of their church’s vision and mission. Too often, clergy and their congregations discover that they are not thinking theologically about financial matters and that their financial commitments are not aligned with their ongoing mission, thus undermining their missional and strategic goals.
The progression of the program at Garett-Evangelical is to move from equipping pastors to be competent in financial affairs, to helping pastors become more effective leaders in their congregations, to supporting pastors in becoming change agents for their denominations and communities, and finally to providing scholarly material to help replicate this work in the academy and church.
Xavier University Institute for Black Catholics
Xavier University Institute for Black Catholics: Continuing Education and Enrichment Summer Program
Continued Education and Enrichment programs provide lifelong learning and spiritual formation for pastoral leaders, clergy, religious, administrators, teachers, and others who minister with Black communities or in multicultural settings.
This program has been a capstone summer experience for our seminarians as they begin their journeys into priesthood. We would like to present this opportunity to our Josephite Communities on a larger scale – for our clergy leaders, Sunday school teachers, choir directors, and those we trust to uphold the mission of our churches and share the love of Christ with our larger community.
Members of the Josephite community will have the opportunity to commune with those who share their experience as Black Catholics, and explore topics such as Black Identity: Mind, Body, Soul and Ministry Among the Millennial Margins. Courses such as Building Cultural Competence for Ministry in the African Diaspora will inspire a dialogue that you can bring home with you to influence your church community. The Elders Retreat course offers an opportunity to spend a week in prayer, reflection, discussion, recreation, and renewal. Celebrating the legacy of elders in the Black Catholic community, come let the Spirit revive, renew, and keep you ready to share the wisdom that continues to sustain us.
