The Most Urgent Need for Congregational Leaders
When many Congregational Leaders are asked what their most urgent needs are, again and again they say “preparing leaders for ministry.” The religious often find themselves in leadership roles without the full toolkit necessary to develop and implement strategy, mobilize resources, oversee challenging staff situations, build a highly productive organization culture, and engage external stakeholders and their boards effectively.
A Commitment to Mission Advancement
Men and women religious make tremendous contributions to human development through their spiritual witness and service to those in need. They are recognized as resourceful and efficient agents of human development around the world educating students, treating the sick, serving the vulnerable, standing with the oppressed, promoting peace, and advocating for justice.
Yet the ability of congregations to advance human development is unevenly distributed. Some congregations are vital and productive; others are less so.
Assessing Needs
Driven by the desire to maximize the potential of congregations to advance human development, Wholistic Leadership, has over the past twenty years identified the critical strategic issues that affect the vitality of congregations. Three interrelated capacities affect the vitality of congregations and, correspondingly, the contributions that men and women religious make to human development:
Maximizing Potential
The realization that congregations are challenged on multiple fronts - the exercise of effective leadership, the formation and education of new members, and securing the resources needed to sustain congregations - is what led to the conceptualization of the Wholistic Leadership Formation pathway. Our mission is to “help the religious maximize and fulfill their potential for good in the world.” Our focus is on helping build the capacity of Religious Communities and Faith-Based organizations to develop new leaders and exercise leadership effectively.
Lasting Impact
For over ten years, Wholistic Leadership was engaged under the Sisters Leadership Development Initiative (Funded by Conrad Hilton Foundation under the African Sisters Education Collaborative) to build the leadership capacity of over 500 sisters in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Kenya.
In addition, we have helped hundreds of the leaders and their teams create a shared vision and put it into action; over the past ten years, we have facilitated over 1000 days in more than 50 ministries led by religious sisters, as well as mission advancement initiatives of priests and brothers spread all over Africa.