Church Practicum

Church Practicum
The Made to Flourish Church Practicum helps you cultivate a vocationally informed church.

Closing the Sunday to Monday gap will require more than hopeful thinking.

Honest vocational appraisal is needed to begin doing the important work of equipping others for vocational diligence and faithfulness.

You need to understand where your congregants spend their days — where your church works — and what that information means for how you shepherd your church.

The Made to Flourish Church Practicum is our program to help you learn about your congregants’ Monday-through-Saturday lives, how to minister to them in work-specific ways, and how to leverage their skills and experience to invest in your community.

The Result:
Vocationally Informed Discipleship

You’ll prioritize and strengthen liturgies, practices, tools, resources, and/or initiatives that equip congregation members to faithfully follow Christ in the everyday.

The Result:
Vocationally Informed Mission

You’ll utilize the gifts and skills of your congregation
as you seek to see your community flourish.

Recognizing a problem isn’t the same as recognizing a solution. That's why we walk alongside pastors and church leaders like you to weave concepts of work and economic wisdom into your church’s culture and activities.

HOW & WHEN
3/5
Church Practicum
Phase 1: Assess

2 months

Our Skill Mapping survey helps you discover the unique vocational and gifting profile of your congregation.

Phase 2: Plan

3 days

We’ll help you craft unique plans for vocationally informed discipleship and mission in the life of your church.

Phase 3: Implement

6 months

Your coach will work with you for six sessions — three one-on-ones and three cohort sessions — during the six months following the intensive.

Phase 4: Collaborate

Ongoing

You may sense the need for ongoing help. You’ve got an opportunity to join a cohort of pastors and church leaders to keep the work going.

The Made to Flourish Church Practicum consists of four phases, which you’ll complete over a period of nine months

Phase 1: Assess

2 months

Our Skill Mapping survey helps you discover the unique vocational and gifting profile of your congregation.

The Made to Flourish Skill Mapping survey uses 14 targeted questions to help you discover the unique vocational and gifting profile of your congregation. The survey results produce a catalog of your people’s jobs, skills, and service interests. You’ll get detailed information like:

  • What percentage of your congregation works in particular fields such as health care or education
  • What areas of service your members share interest in
  • Where in your community your congregation is most gifted to engage

Once deployed, the Skill Mapping survey takes just five minutes for each congregant to complete.

To make your survey results actionable, we’ll present a written assessment, and you will then get a one-hour consultation call, during which we’ll help you assess your survey results and use the data to build a vocationally informed vision for your congregation.

***Our Skill Mapping survey is free and we provide all the support to get you up and running. You don’t need to commit to the Church Practicum in order to make use of the survey, and for a small fee, we’ll help you interpret the data.

Phase 2: Plan

3 Days

We’ll help you craft unique plans for vocationally informed discipleship and mission in the life of your church.

Join us at our three-day intensive where we’ll brainstorm
with you, help you craft unique plans for vocationally informed discipleship and mission in the life of your church, and assign you a coach to help move your plans forward.

You will hear from experienced practitioners and will discuss topics like prayers and songs, stories and vocational imagination, sermon preparation, vocation in learning pathways, community partners, initiatives of congregants, church-organized initiatives, and more.

Your team will have the opportunity to connect with other churches from around the country who are walking through the same process with you. During our time together, Practicum facilitators will challenge and support your church team as you brainstorm and ideate the best way for your congregation to close the Sunday to Monday gap and form an action plan to bring back to your church.

Phase 3: Implement

6 months

Your coach will work with you for four sessions — three one-on-ones and one cohort session — during the six months following the intensive.

As you complete your plans and begin to implement them
at home, your coach will continue to walk alongside you. You receive four coaching sessions — three one-on-ones and one cohort session — over the six months following the intensive. These are the themes covered during your time with your coach and your cohort.

  • Call 1
    Coaching: Building a Guiding Coalition
  • Call 2
    Coaching: Coaching: Listen and Learn
  • Call 3
    Coaching: Short Term Wins, Long Term Goals
  • Call 4
    Cohort: Final Presentation

Phase 4: Collaborate

Ongoing

You may sense the need for ongoing help. You’ve got an opportunity to join a cohort of pastors and church leaders to keep the work going.

After you’ve finished the Church Practicum, you may sense the need for ongoing help and collaboration. If that’s you, you have an opportunity to join a cohort of pastors and church leaders to keep the work going.

Core Facilitators

Tom Nelson

Made to Flourish Executive chairman

Nelson has served as senior pastor of Christ Community Church in the Kansas City area for over 30 years. Tom is the author of Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work, Economics of Neighborly Love: Investing in Your Community's Compassion and Capacity, and The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership.

Matt Rusten

Made to Flourish President

Rusten is the executive director for Made to Flourish, a national nonprofit equipping pastors and Christians around the United States. He has pastored churches in North Dakota, Madison, Wisconsin, and Chicagoland, and he earned degrees at North Dakota State University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Fuller Theological Seminary.

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us– yes, establish the work of our hands."
Moses

Save your spot

The Made to Flourish Church Practicum is a nine-month program that includes a detailed assessment of your congregants’ skills and occupations, a three-day intensive with field experts, and coaching tailored to your church’s needs and goals, all for just $5,000. There's no cost to save your spot. Select your preferred intensive date and location below, share with us who you'd plan to bring on board, and we will connect with you to answer any additional questions and finalize your registration.