Expanding the Pulpit

Expanding the Pulpit is a cohort-based initiative designed to strengthen, encourage, and equip both lay and clergy preachers within the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Generously funded by a grant through the Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative, we seek to empower our preachers to faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in the midst of a rapidly changing Church and world. Over the course of a year, participants will learn from leading homiletical scholars, experienced preachers, and one another through retreats, workshops, peer groups and one-on-one coaching.

Each cohort will consist of approximately twelve participants each.  Rather than a curriculum-based model, each year will be unique in that it will depend upon learnings from the previous years, paying particular attention to the desires of the current participants.  To that end, every cohort member goes through an intake process, where we deeply listen to their longings to improve and contextualize their skills.  After our leadership team explores these findings, the workshops and teachings are mapped out for the year.  In this way, no two years will be identical, and we remain committed to participants having agency over the content of their workshops and small groups.  Instead of a top-down approach, we allow the cohorts to express their needs, with program leadership finding ways to meet these needs in impactful ways that make concrete improvements to their confidence and enthusiasm for preaching.