Guidelines for Congregations Using a Consultant
- Your congregation is growing, and leadership feels pressed to maintain stability in the face of increasing change.
- You'd like to empower and involve more of your congregation in the tasks of leadership.
- You are planning, or have just returned from a sabbatical.
- You are eager to develop a deeper sense of purpose and Christian identity with your congregation.
- You haven't done annual planning or negotiated goals with your vestry in a while and you're not sure how connected you feel to your vestry.
- You haven't trained your vestry in their roles in a while.
- You'd like to invigorate your Stewardship process.
- Clarifying Congregational Vision
- Annual Planning
- Conflict Resolution
- Mutual Ministry Review
- Vestry Role and Responsibilities
- Stewardship/Financial
Management
Lots of organizations have consultant services. The Canon for Congregational Development maintains a list of clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of Newark who have expressed an interest in offering their services to congregations in their respective fields. The current list is as follows:
|
Click on consultant's name for resume. |
|
| Bremer, Robert | 98 Hissim Road |
| Burke, Kenyon C. | P.O. Box 1122 |
| Bussey, Brian | 19 The Crossway Kinnelon, NJ 07405 bwbussey@hotmail.com 973-838-1470 (Home) 973-430-9907 (Fax) |
| Calcagno, Sue | 22
Russell Road Ringwood, NJ 07456 susanc@warwick.net 973-962-4246 (Home) 973-962-7063 (Work) |
| Rick Farrell | 23 North 27th Street Camp Hill, PA 17011 rmljfarrell@verizon.net 717-737-5985 |
| Capwell, Kim | 33
Kadel Drive Mt. Arlington, NJ 07856 kcsc@optonline.net 973-398-6318 (Home) 973-398-1890 (Work) |
| Huck, Beverly | 155
Morris Avenue Denville, NJ 07834 RevBev1@aol.com 973-586-3214 (Home) 973-627-3304 (Work) |
| Mangina, Ross | 19
Hidden Glen Drive Parsippany, NJ 07054 rosscman@optonline.net 973-263-2437 (Home) |
| Nikel, Bill | 459
Passaic Avenue #171 West Caldwell, NJ 07006 wnikel@verizon.net 973-439-1850 (Home) |
| Perkins, Terry | 2
Glen Airlee Court Morristown, NJ 07960 theresaaperkins@aol.com 973-326-9232 (Home) |
| Smith, Stuart | 275
Lafayette Avenue Hawthorne, NJ 07506 stuarthsmiths@netscape.net 973-427-4098 (Home) |
Anyone interested in consulting with congregations is welcome to participate in training events facilitated by the Canon for Congregational Development.
The Office of Congregational Development does not guarantee the services rendered by the consultants.
- The Office does invite feedback from congregations on their experience with consultants.
- The Office does encourage you to check references before enlisting the help of a consultant. Each consultant has unique gifts, and the right consultant for one congregation might be the wrong consultant for a different sort of challenge.
Cost of Using
a Consultant
Just as consultants come with various capabilities and expertise, consultants
seek various types and ranges of compensation depending on circumstances,
the specific job, and their theology. Consultants and a congregation should
mutually agree on compensation before the consultation begins.
- Consider the functions
you need the consultant to perform. Does he/she have training in those
areas?
- Teaching?
- Facilitating?
- Offering feedback?
- Does a potential consultant have connections with your system that will help or hinder the work they might do for you? (i.e. Might the rector's sister be perceived as having an agenda?)
- Is there a chance
you will want follow-up after the facilitation of an engagement or consultation?
Canon
Carter R. Echols
Canon for Congregational Development, Diocese of Newark
canonechols@dioceseofnewark.org
(973) 430-9907