Date: August 24, 2022
As you may know from the July press release, VTS was awarded a grant in June from Trinity Church Wall Street for leadership development efforts in different areas of our work. Thriving in Ministry under Lifelong Learning leads one part of the grant and the CACS portion of the grant focuses on supporting leaders from across the Communion in three different categories: mid-career seasoned bishops; young leaders, both lay and ordained, and women in leadership positions at all levels. We are partnering with the Theological Education in the Anglican Communion (TEAC) network of the Anglican Communion Office to develop curriculum and to strategize interventions for all three audiences.
The young leaders focus will launch first this fall, probably in East Africa through our partnership with St. Paul’s, Limuru and Professor Esther Mombo, Ph.D., who will work with us virtually to convene eight young leaders, primarily Kenyan but also Tanzanian or Sudanese, twice a month for three months for action/reflection case study- based instruction, one-on-one mentoring focused on the challenges of leading as a young person, and learning strategies for building resilience and persistence. The group will then meet in person for an intensive final conference. That first pilot group will also help us reflect on, critique, and refine the curriculum for future groups of young leaders from the Caribbean, Mexico, West Africa, Southern Africa and the Middle East.
The work with bishops is currently being planned to support Phase Three of the Lambeth Conference process of continued dialogue among bishops following their presence together in Canterbury. CACS will again cooperate with TEAC to plan and staff what we expect will be monthly zoom sessions for five groups of twenty bishops, to be formed this fall and to begin in the new year.
While women in leadership roles will be strongly represented in both the groups of young leaders and in the ongoing post-Lambeth dialogues among bishops described above, women’s leadership will also be celebrated and supported by means of a Conference for Women Leaders in the Anglican Communion to be held at VTS in the spring of 2025.
Please pray for us and our partners as we launch this ambitious undertaking and watch our communications for opportunities to be part of the excitement!
The Rev. Katherine Grieb, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Anglican Communion Studies
Hartley Wensing
Associate Director, Center for Anglican Communion Studies
Courtney Henderson-Adams
Administrative Coordinator, Center for Anglican Communion Studies