As a minister, therapist, teacher, trainer, and clergy colleague, I bring a mix of approaches and models to consultations. But the goal is always the same: to help you, your team, your congregation, to be as effective as possible given your opportunities, limitations and resources. Our work together will help you do your best work, whatever your current circumstances, challenge, or hoped for outcome.
For Individual Clergy
Ministry can be a lonely business. How best to address its varied demands is not always clear. I seek to provide individual clergy with confidential, strategic support that helps them make their best choices amid whatever challenges present themselves and allows them to serve and survive well. I will invite you to reflect on your personal and ministerial relationships, to seek ways to be deliberate and strategic. We may explore the intersection of a your own history and growing edges with your ministry setting’s past, current struggles, culture and people, and discern together directions whose outcomes are more likely to go well than not.
For Lay and Clergy Leadership Teams
Multi-staff and leadership teams serving in the same ministry setting must navigate together a complicated field of relationships. Managing this task well, both individually and together, is challenging, given different roles, responsibilities, perspectives and skills. Whether motivated to resolve a situation or make a tough decision, team consultations support clear intentions, good process, and a best outcome for the team and its shared ministry.
For Faith Traditions, Denominations, Organizations, and Agencies
Organizations are often served by the insights or interventions of someone from outside the organization; someone experienced in ministry, clinically trained, and knowledgeable about the ethical challenges of ministerial practice and congregational life; someone whose only agenda is to help organization leaders make their best decisions, with intention and integrity, given who they are, have been, and want to be at their best. Whether you want a meeting facilitated, a difficult matter debriefed, a conflict mediated, or a current practice reviewed, an organizational consultation will work to accomplish your goals.
INFORMATION For Ongoing Consultation
Thank you for the opportunity to support you in ministry and in congregation leadership.
Consultation Goals: The goal of consultation is to support you in doing your best work amid whatever challenges your setting presents. Meeting this goal may involve: reflecting on congregational and interpersonal dynamics, considering the history of minister-congregation relationships, exploring personal or congregational challenges, identifying strategies, and acquiring new skills and knowledge.
Consultation Format: Telephone, Zoom or in person. By appointment. Please be sure to provide your preferred contact information and to provide updates as appropriate.
Appointments: Appointments may be made by email, phone or text. For unexpected, timely matters, please contact me by text of phone
Ongoing Consultation: Regular appointments allow for timely attention to challenges Once or twice monthly consultation is an effective plan for addressing ongoing issues.
Cancellation of Appointments: Please cancel notify me by email, text or by phone 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time. You may be billed for any appointment not cancelled with at least 48 hours.
Email: Email can be useful for checking in on an issue or briefly updating. An email requiring only a quick look and a short reply may be exchanged between us without additional charge. Email inquiries or email requests that require time to read, consider, and then compose a useful response will be billed on a prorated basis .
Review of documents: Upon request, written materials—a draft of a letter, an email, sermon, or document—-will be reviewed. The fee for this will be pro-rated.
Confidentiality: Our consulting relationship is confidential. I will not speak with anyone about our consultation work without your prior written consent or required by law.
As will happen, we may find ourselves together in a public setting; please know that I will never discuss our work in a public area or in a group conversation or disclose the fact of our consultation relationship without you expressed permission.
Challenging ministries are often chronic and continue to be so over many years. Subsequent clergy serving after you in the same position may consult with me. By engaging me as a consultant you grant me permission to inform any subsequent clergy that you and I consulted relationship regarding this ministry.
Conflicts of Interest: Our collegial and denominational worlds can be small. Every effort will be made not to engage knowingly in another consultation relationship that may pose a conflict of interest or otherwise jeopardize my capacity to provide you with support and to act in your best interest.
Other Consultants: Challenges in ministry or in congregational life sometimes lead to the hiring of multiple consultants. In order to avoid confusion and not to work at cross purposes, by engaging me as a consultant you agree to inform me if you or the organization you serve works before or during the time of our consultation with any other outside consultant or with a denominational official.
Fees for Service: Fees for consultations are $190 for full session of 50 minutes. Multi-person, group or staff consultations may be billed at $310 per 50 minute session. These fees may change annually. Fees for prepared programs or educational instruction are available upon request.
Payment: Invoices will be sent by email at least monthly on the first of the month for the month prior. Payment may be made by check or Venmo. If a third party has provided you with funds, please make payments by means of your personal account or professional expense account rather than have a third party make payment to me.