After Bromleigh’s arrival, CMRB determined that it would help to hire a consultant to assist the three ministers in the transition. We hired Peter Ilgenfritz, who worked with our congregation over a long weekend during our discernment process. We had high hopes for this collaboration, but few of us envisioned how transformative this work would be for our ministerial team. As a board, it has been fascinating and joyful to witness the coalescing and strengthening of the individual and shared ministries of our clergy during this process.

Here are quotes from the ministerial team regarding their work with Ilgenfritz:

• “Our work together has blossomed under the guidance of Peter Ilgenfritz. It is time consuming. And so worthwhile. We are learning communication tools and team building strategies of accountability and delegation that will serve us well for years, I am sure.”
• “It has been helpful to think about how staff meets, works together, communicates. We have been working a lot with Peter to make meetings, task delegations, and communication more effective and efficient.”
• “Working on developing our team with clarity and purpose with Peter Ilgenfritz has been thoughtful, engaging, challenging, and incredibly helpful. We are doing good and important work and I think that the congregation will see the value in our formational time with integrated, healthy ministry and staff practices (if they haven’t already).”
• “Our work with Peter has been a Godsend. Communication and awareness of each other’s ministries is especially important and will enable them better to collectively serve the church.”

The time invested over these three months creating a solid base for collaboration and communication will pay dividends now and in the long run. We are already seeing the fruits of this collaboration in improved communication, clear division of labor, and efficiency of operations both in the clergy’s ministries and in broader church operations.

The Congregation-Ministry Review Board’s mission is to serve as a conduit between the ministers and the congregation. If you ever want to discuss a problem, concern, or something that went great, don’t hesitate to contact CMRB chair Tim Martin, or any of the CMRB members: Rebecca Beachy, Catherine Berg, Salina Briseno, Don Fitzpatrick, Barb Gibbs, Helda Montero, Donn Smith-Lopez, Brandon Telg, and Bill Zegel.