A major study was conducted in 2015 by the Danielsen Institute on behalf of the Center for Family Care and offered concrete feedback on the state of our clergy and clergy families. The report, Trauma, Relational Spirituality, and Resilience: A Study of Greek Orthodox Priests and Presvyteres, produced compelling findings regarding the financial, physical, emotional, and spiritual condition of our clergy and presvyteres. A second survey was conducted in 2016 by the Metropolis of Atlanta Strategic Plan Clergy Task Force. The conclusions of both studies indicated that new strategies and initiatives are needed to solve the identified problems.
One such initiative that emerged is the establishment of Clergy Peer Learning Groups. The CPLG program brings together small groups of priests, usually on a quarterly basis, with trained clergy as facilitators.
The focus of these groups is as follows:
To strengthen and sustain excellent pastoral leaders
To promote peer learning to sustain pastors in every season of ministry
To provide clergy with a sacred space for mutual care, support, and accountability
To engage in theological reflection on pastoral identity and parish ministry
Resources
Meeting Resources
You will find two sets of resources. The first group are the power point files used for a given CPLG meeting. These files include video clips, discussion questions, etc. The second group of resources are the related facilitator’s outline for each respective power point file. Match the outline with the PowerPoint. Feel free to either use the entire power point as-is or mix and match whatever resources would be effective for each group session.
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
Session 7
Session 8
Session 9
Session 10
Session 11
Session 12
Session 13
Session 14
Session 15
Session 16
Session 17
Session 18
Session 19
Session 20
Session 21
Session 22
Session 23
Session 25
Clergy Wife Peer Learning Group Session Outlines
Contact
The Director of the Center for Family Care, Rev. Dr. Alexander Goussetis, leads the program. He is a qualified trainer of facilitators through the Lilly Endowment while also facilitating three clergy groups. Fr Alexander is making available the following resources for clergy facilitators to use for programming clergy groups. For more information about CPLG, contact him at 646-519-6691 or use the form below.