Institute for Vital Ministry

Vital Ministries, Vital Communities, Vital Lives

The Institute for Vital Ministry (iVM) connects individuals and organizations with one another, and with resource partner agencies and institutions and practitioners for the purpose of imagining and living into deeper and richer human flourishing. We use the power of community and collaboration to join learners and leaders. Have a way toward a solution? Join us and share it. Recognize a challenge and desire to address it? Join us and crowdsource your mission.

Who are the partners?

• YOU. You are the dreamer, the doer. You are the searcher, the builder. You Are.
• Community contexts include social service agencies and non-profits doing advocacy, community development. They may be faith-based or non-sectarian or secular.
• Education partners include institutes, centers, foundations, colleges, universities and seminaries.

How is it funded?

Crowdfunding. Association Membership Dues. Participant Fees. Donations. Foundation Grants.

How do we engage, equip, extend?

• CrowdSource your Mission – 1) Articulate your challenge, opportunity or vision. 2) Gather input from “The Crowd” – yours and ours. 3) Gather innovators who will help architect solutions. 4) Gather a team to execute. 5) Return to offer your learnings to others.
• Curated Connections – You have a challenge, but don’t know where to turn for ideas, solutions or help. iVM is a one stop resource that will connect you to the practitioners, knowledge experts and resources to develop innovative solutions.
• Dynamic Web Presence – Once built out, iVM will provide an online hub for collaboration among ministry practitioners at all levels and sizes, from an international organization to a few neighbors in a community.
• Coaching for your Mission – Once you identify your goals, the community offers coaching to develop a strategic plan, and accompany you on the journey toward completion. This is available for individuals, boards, or any team of passionate people who are ready to cocreate a better community and world.
• Peer Learning Communities – individuals come together and commit to sharing the journey of discovery and transformation with one another for at least 1 year. They receive training in Peer Learning Community best practices, Peer Coaching skills, as well as content across the 6 domains of human flourishing.
• Ministry Internships – following the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters, participants spend 1 day / week in the internship over a 14 week period. 4-5 hours are spent embedded in a community agency or other context to participate, observe and inquire. 2-3 hours are then spent in  Peer Learning Community process working through a set of practices that address and develop the six domains. Participants are also paired with a fellow participant to work together in peer coaching for the semester.
• Immersion Weeks – Typically conducted during the summer, along with January, May and August minimesters. One to two weeks in length, these sessions provide a condensed experience of the Ministry Internship model.
• Retreats, Workshops and Conferences – Where we will gather participants and partners for collaboration, idea generation, strategic planning, knowledge sharing and wisdom gathering.

Who are the participants?

Participants will include lay people (people of faith who are not professional clergy), students, youth and young adults, and clergy.  They may be deeply religious, nominally religious, spiritual but not religious, or unsure where they fit. They may be facing one or more of the following:

• Seeking clarity regarding how their faith and vocation overlap and support each other
• Wanting to develop a secular professional life that clearly serves their ministry and mission in the world.
• Pursuing full time ministry and wanting to explore alternatives to the models they know.
• Wanting renewal and revitalization of their personal faith and ministry.
• Desiring renewal and revitalization in vocational ministry.

For more information and to participate, please contact Rev. Ken G. Crawford
214-288-1663 ~ Ken@SynchronousLife.com ~ www.SynchronousLife.com/IVMC
KenGCrawford on Linkedin and Twitter ~ KenGCrawfordCoaching on Facebook