Church Leadership Center

10/07/2026

After everything CLC has been through, we’ve spent a lot of time asking why this work still matters.

Here is where we have landed:
CLC exists to come alongside “people in the pew” as they grow into the fullness of human life in Christ—strengthening congregations to live God’s mission among their neighbors.

That’s bigger than preparing someone for a particular ministry role.
And in another sense, it’s smaller.

Because it can begin with ordinary people gathering around a table.
Learning.
Talking.
Practicing.
Growing.

And carrying what they are discovering back into the places where they already live.
That is the work we want to keep making room for.

Read more about why:
https://churchleadershipcenter.org/why/

10/06/2026

Churches don’t need one more program from somewhere else telling them what to do.

That isn’t what interests us.

CLC is much more interested in coming alongside what is already happening inside a congregation.

Because there are already people sitting in the pews who are curious.
People asking deeper questions.
People discovering gifts.
People who want to understand Scripture more deeply and live it out among their neighbors

People who want their faith to become more connected to the way they actually live.
Sometimes what they need isn’t another church program.

Maybe they simply need space and a few other people willing to take the journey with them.

CLC can help make room for that.

The congregation remains the place where we worship God, practice our faith, serve our neighbors, and live the way of Jesus together.

We come alongside it.

10/03/2026

One learning series became three.

01 — Reading the Bible Again for the First Time
Learning to experience Scripture as a connected story of God’s covenant faithfulness—and discovering our place within it.

02 — Our Family Story
Exploring the long and complicated story of Jesus’ Church and considering what faithfulness looks like today.

03 — Recounting Our Core Testimony
Exploring the Christian testimony we have received and continue to carry.
Three connected Core Learning Series.

But the goal isn’t simply to complete all three.

The deeper question underneath them is:
How does what we’re learning actually take shape in the way we live?

Explore the Core Learning Series:
https://churchleadershipcenter.org/

10/01/2026

One of our favorite things happening around CLC right now?
Sometimes we aren’t in the room.

A participant goes through a learning series.
Then that person helps another group gather.
Someone who was learning becomes a host.

A community finishes one series and wants to continue.

Local leaders begin imagining how the learning could take root in their own churches and communities.

We’re increasingly excited when CLC doesn’t have to organize every gathering or lead every conversation.

People are taking what they have received and making room for someone else.

09/29/2026

One of the things we’re reminded of is that formation has to become local.

It can’t simply remain content delivered from somewhere else.
A community has to be able to make it its own.

We’re seeing that happen in Uganda.

Work is underway to translate Reading the Bible Again for the First Time into Luganda so the learning can move through local relationships in a language people know deeply.

That matters to us.
Because the goal isn’t for CLC to remain at the center of every gathering.
The goal is for people to receive something, make it their own and create room for someone else.

Person to person.
Community to community.

09/25/2026

We thought we were making room for a few people to learn together.

Then the room got much bigger.
Through our partnership with Words of Hope, CLC learning communities began gathering in places far beyond where this started.

India. Uganda. Indonesia.South Africa. To name a few!

People were encountering the same teaching—but bringing their own questions, experiences, churches, cultures and communities into the conversation.

In some cases, people from several countries were learning together.

What started as a simple way to give a handful of people access to good teaching was becoming something much richer.

And then something happened that may be even more important.
People began carrying it forward themselves.

09/23/2026

What happened next was actually pretty small.

A handful of people wanted access to Dr. Wayne Brouwer’s teaching on the Bible.
So we got online.

Wayne taught live. People gathered. They asked questions. They talked together.
There wasn’t an elaborate model around it.

It was mostly a group of people who wanted to learn, a teacher with something worth sharing, and a way to be in the same room even though they weren’t in the same place.

That became the beginning of:
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time.

Our first Core Learning Series.

Sometimes a new chapter doesn’t announce itself.
Sometimes it begins with a handful of people gathering to learn together.

CLC Learning Series invite you into a shared journey of Christian formation—grounded in teaching, honest conversation, daily spiritual practice, and spiritual friendship.

09/20/2026

CLC started with a pretty practical question:
What about the people already serving in local churches who sense a call to ministry, but aren’t going to leave their jobs, families, congregations and communities to go away to seminary?

Beginning in 2008, that question shaped much of our work.

CLC helped people prepare for ministry while remaining rooted right where they already lived and served.

Scripture. Theology. Church history. Preaching. Pastoral care.

For many years, Commissioned Pastor formation was a major part of who we were.
Eventually, that chapter began changing.

And CLC found itself asking another question:
What should we carry forward?

We didn’t know yet that the next chapter would begin with something very small.

CLC Learning Series invite you into a shared journey of Christian formation—grounded in teaching, honest conversation, daily spiritual practice, and spiritual friendship.

09/18/2026

We’ve been pretty quiet here.

But CLC hasn’t been standing still.

Over the last few years, something that started pretty small has been taking shape.

A handful of people wanted to learn together. That became a learning series. One group led to another. Relationships opened doors in other parts of the world. Participants became hosts. One learning series became three.

And along the way, we’ve been learning a lot about what helps faith move beyond information and take deeper root in everyday life.

We think it’s time we started telling that story.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to share a little about where CLC has been, what has been happening in places like Uganda, India, Indonesia and South Africa, what we’ve learned—and what we’re beginning to wonder about closer to home.

It feels good to be back in the conversation.

CLC Learning Series invite you into a shared journey of Christian formation—grounded in teaching, honest conversation, daily spiritual practice, and spiritual friendship.