Pastor speaks to youth

Pastoral Residency Program

The mission of the Pastoral Residency Program is to provide a first call experience in which recent seminary graduates can practice and cultivate the art of pastoral ministry in a healthy congregation. While residents have been fully prepared for ministry by their seminary education, they benefit in their pastoral development from serving in a local church. Our goal is to enable new clergy to build skills and practices, both professional and personal, that will provide a foundation for fruitful and faithful service to the church. As full-time pastors, our pastoral residents participate in all aspects of congregational life. Each resident will have multiple experiences in six essential areas of pastoral leadership: worship, faith formation, pastoral care, transformational leadership, mission/justice and professional development.

Residents have the experience of both stepping into existing ministries and forming new ones. With a staggered call process, our two residents have the opportunity to progress in their learning, development and leadership while having the support of a peer.

After their two-year stint, pastoral residents have answered the call to pastor at churches all over the country. We cherish the impact they have had on our church lives and hope that they take a part of Wellesley Village Church with them wherever they serve.

2024 PASTORAL RESIDENCY APPLICATION >

“I have been treated as a full member of the pastoral staff from day one. Before ordination, before I got to know all of the systems and people here well, I have been trusted as a pastor and colleague.”

~Current Resident, Rev. Megan Berkowitz

 

“Let this church love you; that is transforming on its own. The people of Village Church have a faith, and a depth of religious life, that is quite rare. Let it rub off on you. I think that is the greatest gift I have received from this program:  a chance to see people who love God and love each other, working it out faithfully in all their imperfections.”

~Former Resident, Rev. John Allen

 

“If I had not had the benefit of the Pastoral Residency Program, I strongly suspect that a good deal of my time would be spent wondering if I am doing ‘the right thing’ in any given situation in ministry.The Pastoral Residency is a compass I still turn to every day in ministry.”

~ Former Resident, Rev. Dr. Catriona Grant

 

“The Village Church just gets it: they get ministry, they get loving community, they get leadership development. As a congregational leader, I find myself in places I could not anticipate, but I can, and I do, trust my instincts. So much of that is directly attributable to the practices the good people of the Village Church built within me.”

~ Former Resident, Rev. Kaji Spellman Douša