FORMATION & TRAINING | INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY | SITE PLACEMENTS
Life Together's curriculum focuses on nurturing strength in personal, communal and social leadership. Our fellows learn real-world skills like self-awareness, time management, movement-building, community organizing, strategic thinking, conflict management and team-building. They also practice these skills in their site placements and in their intentional communities.
"The most powerful part of being a Life Together fellow was being able to learn and practice a holistic approach to social justice work. This unique opportunity taught me that there are multitudes of methods, programs and skills available and needed to carry God’s love into this world. I worked on budgets, created icebreakers, taught spiritual practice and planned huge fundraiser galas. I practiced the spectrum of tools necessary for effective change. Now, four years later I'm using all of them, from building grassroots teams to keeping an existing program afloat to be bring about effective social change in Nairobi, Kenya. Life Together provided an incredible place to learn and practice these tools - more tools than I could have imagined. I’ll be forever grateful for my time with the program."
- Natalie Finstad, 2009
Curriculum
Training takes place on most Fridays between September and June of the fellow year. It is intended to complement the experiential learning fellows engage in through their work at their site placements. Through training, fellows learn and practice skills that will both deepen their faith and prepare them for life-long work for justice in both their professional and personal lives. The fellowship year begins with an intensive two-week orientation, which is followed by monthly leadership trainings on the third Friday of each month. On the other three Fridays a month, fellows meet in their houses with two prayers partners, who serve as outside facilitators and who lead community building practices and spiritual practices. The formal training program is further enhanced by what fellows learn from their life in community, individual practices of prayer and reflection (including a Rule of Life), meeting regularly with a personal spiritual mentor, community meals, and occasional gatherings with the brothers of The Society of St. John the Evangelist. The curriculum focuses on developing the skills, practices, knowledge, and dispositions related to both interior and exterior leadership, or both personal and social transformation.
Friday Sessions
These sessions are the heart of Life Together’s leadership training and formation program. Each monthly training is a mix of both prayerful and prophetic practices—a combination of contemplative spiritual practices, time for community building, and skill-based leadership training. Fellows learn about the intersection between personal and social transformation. In addition, they provide a space for fellows to discuss their work and provide and receive support on specific issues.
A Typical Monthly Friday Training:
- 8:45: Arrive and get settled
- 9:00: Worship + Community check-in with staff and fellows
- 10:15: Teaching/Workshop on contemplative practice (some interior leadership art)
- 12:30: Lunch
- 1:30: Teaching/Workshop on a Prophetic Leadership Practice
- 4:30: Evaluation and Closing Prayer
Partners
Our primary partners in this work have been Leading Change and Marshall Ganz (for public narrative and community organizing), The Servant Leadership School in Greensboro, NC (in creating a framework for how to think about Christianity as a way of life—“The Jesus Way”), John deBeer and the KLESIS Curriculum (for vocational discernment, community, and group process), and The Fund for Theological Education (for discernment, community, and spiritual practice). Additionally, our sister organization is The Leadership Development Initiative (LDI). Life Together and LDI work closely together and continue to build networks of coaches, leadership trainers, and faith-based social-change leaders.
Recruitment + Fundraising
In addition to attending training on Fridays, fellows share responsibility for the ongoing recruitment of future fellows and for fundraising. We believe the arts of recruitment and fundraising are critical skills in ministry and social change work that all of our fellows must learn. This learning happens primarily through a project called "The Life Together Challenge."
This is a form of team-based fundraising and a collaborative campaign to raise $30,000 during the year. Each staff member and fellow is responsible for raising at least $500. This money raised goes to help pay the stipends and health insurance for the next class of fellows.
Evaluation
Commitment to ongoing evaluation is a core value for Life Together, and a critical part of how we create a culture of both gratitude and learning. We do both extensive written evaluations and experiential evaluation.
Written evaluations include: a base-line survey during Orientation, mid-year evaluation with each fellow, his/her supervisors and the Fellowship Director, and an end of year evaluation including a survey.
In-person evaluations at the end of each training session help collect key learnings, and assist the trainers in determining what worked well and how to make the learning experience even better next time.
Finally, program directors conduct mid-year site visits and end of year exit interviews with all fellows.
