What IS A RULE OF LIFE?

A rule of life is a set of specific practices lived by a Christian community to guard our habits and guide our lives into Godliness. The practice is taken from Biblical examples like in the Book of Daniel, and from the Christian tradition, specifically the monastic movement. A rule of life is not meant to replace the ordinary practices of faithfulness to which all members of the church are called. But it is meant to guard us from the greatest dangers of our particular calling. As a community of pastors in training, participants in our pastoral residency will hold each other accountable to specific spiritual practices that will help them develop health in seven main areas: Dependence on God, Intimacy with God, Rest, Marriage and Family, Friendship, Authority and Leadership, and Hospitality.

What kind of time commitment Does the pastoral residency require?

This program is designed to imitate the kind of time commitment necessary for a bi-vocational (lay) pastor/elder to remain faithful to his role in the local church. This means that all required reading, discussion, and responsibilities can be completed in under 2 hours per week. There will be a monthly meeting lasting around 3 hours, usually around the context of a good meal. There is no need to quit your vocational job. There is no cost for the pastoral residency, but you will have to purchase your own books.

What will the training look like?

Besides following our rule of life, our development will focus on three key competencies of pastoral ministry: teaching/preaching; pastoral care; and oversight/leadership. Reading and assignments will work to integrate the habits of the rule of life with the training in competencies. For example, as we practice the discipline of confession and grow in friendship, we will explore how deep relationships with other pastors form the accountability and love necessary for faithful oversight of the church.

Who is eligible for the pastoral residency?

Men who have the affirmed desire to pursue the office of pastor/elder, are members of a Grace Network church, and who already possess to a reasonable degree the pastoral qualifications found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

Does completing the pastoral residency mean I will be a candidate for eldership in a grace network church?

No. At the end of the residency, your program director and local pastors will walk you through an assessment of your readiness to pastoral ministry and a recommendation of next steps. Some of the men who have completed our residency have gone on to pastoral ministry, some to further training in seminary, some to church planting, some to the mission field, and others are simply equipped to better serve the church as a faithful church member or in another ministry area, such as the diaconate.

Pastoral Residency

EQUIPPING THE CALLED FOR GOSPEL MINISTRY

The Pastoral Residency exists to help mature and Godly men in our partner churches develop the heart of a pastor and build key spiritual rhythms that will help them to healthily persist in ministry as long as God calls them.

This program is designed to help men who already possess much of the theological maturity and character necessary for the office of pastor to learn alongside other men and current pastors to develop the heart of a pastor. We will discuss theological topics—as it is the pastor’s role to “teach” and “guard” doctrine—but we will do so through the lens of personal growth in holiness and desire for the ministry of shepherding God’s people.

The primary way we will train men to develop a pastoral heart is through a shared rule of life. As each cohort holds each other accountable to the spiritual disciplines of the rule of life and work together to encourage and love each other, it will model how a healthy plurality of elders is meant to function in the local church.