Faith And The City
Leadership Institute

A Glimpse of Course Content:
The Six Session of the Class of 2005

The Leadership Institute was officially launched in January 2005 with the first of six monthly retreats for its participants, who are, in the words of the Institute’s director, Rev. Elizabeth Mitchell Clement, “an extraordinary group of citizens and leaders whose commitment to this effort is humbling.”

The retreats employ an action-learning process designed to: 1) nurture a sense of community, shared responsibility, and common destiny; 2) foster breakthrough thinking and action on complex regional issues; and 3) generate new strategies and approaches to decision-making and problem-solving in faith communities and in the public arena.

The focus of the January session was “Seeing the World Together: Growing Community for Collaboration and Action.” It was a time for building community and telling personal leadership stories. Ambassador James T. Laney delivered the keynote address, with Rabbi Analia Bortz, Imam Plemon El Amin, and Rev. Gerald Durley responding.

The February program addressed “Culture, Congregations, and Personal Leadership Styles,” keynoted by Robert M. Franklin, Ph.D., Professor of Social Ethics at Emory University and noted scholar of public theology and the African American church. George Thompson, Ph.D., Professor of Church Administration at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), led a lively exploration of the P.A.C.E. Profile typologies of personal leadership styles. Later, Michael Owens, Ph.D., of Emory University’s Office of University and Community Partnerships, facilitated a discussion of research on public and private leadership in American congregations.

In March the critical examination of leadership continued with Dr. Thompson, who also serves as associate director for Faith And The City at the ITC, turning the focus to “reading” congregational culture.

April’s focus was community development and advocacy, with the Leadership Institute participants studying asset-based community development with David Jenkins, Ph.D., of the Faith And The City Program at the Candler School of Theology. The retreat was held in a school/community center and hosted by Ronnie Galvin, a community organizer who lives and works there. Following a brief tour of the neighborhood, the group had lunch in a restaurant run by a community coop founded by one of the Leadership Institute’s participants. Ronnie Galvin and Ginger Kaney, associate director of the Faith And The City Program at Columbia Theological Seminary and an experienced community organizer, told stories from their experience and led a discussion of comprehensive community change.

Atlanta City Hall was the setting for the May session, when Jim Watkins, D.Min., a seasoned public religious leader, experienced educator, and former congressional staffer, led an exploration of strategies for influencing public policy. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin later joined the Leadership Institute participants for a working lunch and an energetic dialogue on the sources and resources for committed public service. Rev. Miriam Burnett, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Faith And The City at the ITC, and Rueben Warren, D.D.S., M.P.H., on loan from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Faith And The City at the ITC, introduced a public health framework for public policy advocacy and then used environmental justice in that framework to make it come alive.

The final session, June 6, was hosted at Temple Kehillat Chaim, in Roswell. The day was devoted primarily to establishing community action initiatives that drew on the strong relationships created during the past six months among Leadership Institute participants. Working together in small groups, the participants identified processes and strategies for interfaith group collaboration and engagement on current public issues to improve the Atlanta metro community. Each participant identified one or two others in the class with whom he or she would like to work on such an initiative. A number of collaborations were already in the works by the time the session ended that evening.

Although the session descriptions above focus on speakers and topics, Rev. Clement emphasized that every session heavily stresses, and is designed to maximize, dialogue between Leadership Institute participants and presenters, as well as among the participants themselves in small and large group settings.