Revaluing Money

Professional Development for Pastors

Education Beyond the Walls at Austin Seminary

Applications Available Now

Application Deadline is May 1, 2013

Money by itself is neither good nor bad, but how we use it and how we let it use us shapes us deeply. It is a critical issue in almost everyone’s life.

Yet most pastors do not talk much about money, other than what must be said when it’s time to raise the budget. Revaluing Money gives pastors an opportunity to become fluent in the language, practice and culture needed to lead people into right relation with money.

In Revaluing Money, we ask pastors to do something other than learn methods of fundraising. We invite them instead to move toward freedom from captivity to money—for themselves, for the people they serve, and for God’s work in the world. This nine-month journey takes three steps:

1. Self: What is my personal relationship with money?

For leaders to be free to lead, they have to be working on their own issues—so their issues aren’t working on them. Most pastors have to learn to have a healthy relationship with money. They begin by naming the scripts, beliefs and feelings they carry about money and looking clearly at the reality of their own financial situation and, with help and in confidence, assess its impact on them, their families and their ministry.

2. Stuff: What is my practical theology of money?

When leaders are clear about money in their own lives, they can then turn to questions about money in the congregations they serve. Money is the last taboo in the church, even though money and possessions are mentioned in the New Testament more than any other subject. Pastors need a practical theology to ground their leadership around issues of money.

3. So What: What is God leading us to do with our money?

Leaders for the emerging future need robust pastoral imaginations, not only for their own lives and the lives of their congregations, but also for authentic Christian witness in public life. Looking beyond traditional mission activities, pastors’ imaginations can be stimulated by exploring new paradigms, learning how other Christian communities have revalued money, and hearing the stories of individuals whose giving of money is central to their faith.

Who?

Revaluing Money is for pastors in the practice of congregational leadership who are currently serving as a pastor in a congregation.

When?

Each session will begin with dinner on Monday and an evening session, continue through Tuesday and end Wednesday afternoon at Austin Seminary.

Sessions for Class of 2013 are:

May 20-22, 2013
September 16-18, 2013
February 10-12, 2014

Class of 2014 begins February 2014.

Sign up to receive more information about Class of 2014.

How much?

The $600 fee covers the cost of lodging and meals for all three sessions, session leadership and presenters, and five sessions of coaching. Participants must provide their own travel to and from the seminary.

The cost of Revaluing Money is underwritten by a grant from the Texas Presbyterian Foundation.

Through the generosity of three congregations who support this work, scholarship support is available.

Continuing Education Credit

4 CEUs: One unit of continuing education credit will be earned for each 10 contact hours.

The Revaluing Money Project Structure

• The journey requires a community traveling together over time. Each learning community of twelve pastors will meet three times on the campus of Austin Seminary.
• Each learning community will meet for three multi-day sessions which include personal reflection, group exercises, presentations by subject matter experts, study of Bible and theology, and testimony from persons who give generously. Readings and activities will be assigned in preparation for each session.
• Members of the learning community may each receive five sessions of confidential topic-related personal coaching.

What is coaching?

Coaching is similar to consulting or therapy, but it is different in important ways. Briefly, consulting is for solving a current problem. Therapy is for healing a past wound. Coaching is accelerating future growth in a desired sphere of life.