New Frontiers Helping pastors thrive in their ministry

Besides the content, I loved laughing my head off at dinner with new friends and connecting with peers and mentors. I also so appreciated the time to reflect from afar on my ministry, giving me new eyes to see when I get back home. - Kelsey Guckenberger, Pastor, Christ Community Church, Des Moines

The Program
A vocation in ministry can be uniquely rewarding and uniquely challenging. As pastors seek to flourish in their calling, they face a number of distinctive hurdles: developing life-giving connections with other ministry professionals, finding guides who can help them navigate the path, and preserving and developing the Christian life of the mind. With these challenges in view, New Frontiers supports pastors through:

• Diverse Friendships
  Pastors are surrounded by people from week to week, but they can easily feel isolated in their work--isolated from others who could understand the joys and struggles of ministry, isolated from the world beyond their own narrow church or denominational contexts, isolated from friends with whom they can share their work honestly and confidentially. New Frontiers combats isolation by promoting supportive friendships among a close cohort of diverse peers who experience the world of congregational ministry from many different angles.
• Mentorship
  A career in ministry inevitably includes many challenges and changes; these shape a pastor’s sense of what the church is about, how it should do its work, and how individuals can be effective in its institutional life. New Frontiers connects pastors to seasoned mentors who are further down the path, who have experienced transitions in the church and its ministry, and who can be wise conversation partners as the church confronts new challenges.
• Intellectual Renewal
  The Christian Gospel has relevance for every dimension of human life. Amidst the pressures of ministry, though, it takes real energy and imagination to continue to explore the broad implications of the good news we have in Christ. New Frontiers encourages pastors in intellectual renewal through faith-and-learning workshops, complimentary access to conferences and talks offered at Westmont, and more.

• Retreat
  We do much of the above during three multi-day retreats in California's Central Coast region, where you'll enjoy opportunities to reflect on your ministry, listen for God's promptings, and find rejuvenation in a glorious natural setting.

  ---

  It's very helpful to be around others in ministry—I've found myself energized and re-energized each time. There is movement of the Holy Spirit in my life, and I think part of that is what happens in this group. - Brett Stuvland, Lead Pastor, Westside Journey United Methodist Church, Beaverton

  ---

   

My time at New Frontiers upended my expectations—of people, of God, and of the Church. Through this group and experience the Spirit opened my eyes to see and my ears to hear that I am not alone in this calling. - Kallie Pitcock, Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Nacogdoches, TX

Who Should Apply?
New Frontiers offers experiences and tools that will be especially useful to ministry professionals in their first call or first few years of service. However, professionals at every stage in their ministry careers, especially those re-envisioning the basic shape of their ministry or seeking intellectual renewal, are welcome to apply. We welcome participants from all Christian denominational backgrounds, all ordination statuses, and all pastoral ranks and specialties. New Frontiers seeks to assemble denominationally diverse cohorts; for that reason, participants should expect to learn and benefit from interaction with branches of the Christian family that are quite different from their own.

Activities
New Frontiers participants gather in California for three multi-day retreats, meet monthly (online or in person) for individual and group mentoring conversations, and have complimentary access to optional academic and pastoral conferences at Westmont College. 

• Retreat dates for the 2024-2025 cohort are: 
  • August 5-8, 2024 (Westmont College)
  • November 11-14, 2024 (The Oaks, San Diego)
  • May 19-22, 2025 (Westmont College) 
• Program Cost
  Thanks to the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc., Westmont College is able to provide this program to ministry professionals at no cost. Travel, lodging, food, and all program activities are included for free with registration, and we offer up to $400 of reimbursement for caretaking expenses incurred by participants (for childcare, pet-sitting, house-sitting, etc.).

How to Apply
You can download our application for here. Please return to newfrontiers@westmont.edu by June 1, 2024. Information for 2025-2026 cohort will be released spring 2025. 

Are you a mid-career pastor facing major transitions in your ministry? Consider Next Frontiers, which supports pastors experiencing or anticipating changes in their professional situations. Westmont College also offers vocational exploration for high schoolers through Trailhead: Seeking God's Call, and for congregations through Thriving Communities and the Young Adult Leadership Lab.