Boundaries Training Workshops

2024 Offerings 

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The Synod’s overarching theme is “In our Synod, we’ll try anything to equip leaders who attend to God’s creative, emerging future.”  Part of this equipping is offering Boundaries Training Workshops through LeaderWise.

It’s our experience that pastors, church staff, and other leaders who transgress boundaries by-and-large are not predators. In fact, not even close. Most people in ministry who violate boundaries are individuals who know and follow the rules most of the time but whose judgment may be impaired due to an unusually stressful time in their lives. With that in mind, Not-Your-Average Boundaries Training is tailored to focus on strategies to foster emotional resiliency and well-being. While we still cover the requirements—“Don’t sleep with a parishioner unless you’re married to them” and the like —we believe the best prevention is to encourage clergy to take steps to manage their stress in order to maintain balance and perspective when temptation arises. We further teach concepts of power and rank, plus a 4-step strategy to help stop them in their tracks before they commit a boundary violation; and participants leave with their own personal prevention plan.