Deadline: January 31, 2023
Applications are open for the Trinity Leadership Fellows Programme 2023. The Trinity Leadership Fellows Programme is for individuals seeking to deepen the faith-inspired and values-driven mindsets and skills needed to effectively lead organizations and serve communities in contemporary society, while also building lifelong supporting peer and mentoring relationships.
This non-residential, fully funded programme will prepare professional and community leaders who are people of faith, as well as ordained leaders across faith traditions with the mindsets and practical skills they need to energize and empower their congregations and communities in ways that heal divides and disrupt injustice, as compelled by the Spirit and the Gospel. The experience will offer fellows an opportunity to learn from leading scholars from Harvard, experts in the field, and mentors interconnected through their faith and Trinity’s core values. Fellows will build life-changing relationships with like-minded peers who share the passion for faith-driven leadership that produces positive change in our world.
Programme Overview
The programme consists of a learning phase and an implementation phase.
- September 2023: During this initial weeklong in-person gathering at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City, fellows will meet their mentors and instructors. This convening will include a workshop on discerning your leadership path in terms of your faith and values. This discernment will shape the rest of the curriculum for fellows. The week will also include a course on community organizing.
- September 2023–August 2024: Fellows will engage in live online learning sessions with leading scholars and experts on core competencies for effective leadership. These include courses on adaptive leadership, conflict transformation, change management, church and non-profit management, and social entrepreneurship, all taught from a faith perspective and informed by individual fellows’ discernment exercises and formation goals.
- September 2024: Fellows will reconvene for a weeklong gathering to meet the next cohort of fellows and present implementation projects.
- September 2024–August 2025: Fellows will implement their programs with the assistance of their peers and mentors, meeting with their cohort for continuous support.
- September 2025: Induction of the cohort into the Trinity Society of Fellows.
Cost
- The programme is fully funded by Trinity Church Wall Street. All travel, lodging, and educational materials are covered by the programme. Assistance funds for family care are available.
- Fellows who are placed into curacies will have parts of their salaries and benefits funded by Trinity, in agreement with their bishops.
Eligibility
- Open to all leaders in every religious tradition and every vocation, both ordained and lay.
- Possess a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
Applicants must demonstrate the following characteristics with specific examples from their careers/ministries to be successful in the selection process:
- An active person of faith
- Note: the curriculum and programme are designed for a Christian audience, but this programme is open to people of all faiths.
- Has achieved goals that are in service of their community and the common good. They must demonstrate a desire to pursue goals beyond their self-interest.
- Has clear goals they hope to accomplish during the fellowship.
- Naturally inclined to build relationships and engage with people.
- Prior experience working with a group to inspire and guide them to achieve a common goal/s.
- Strong interpersonal skills.
- Entrepreneurial mindset, self-starters with demonstrated ability to creatively solve problems.
- Able to simultaneously see and think long-term and short-term; able to see the big picture and detail, the “forest and the trees”.
- Willing to sacrifice and have a high tolerance for discomfort to achieve goals.
- Able to balance personal ambition with the ability to listen and take criticism.
- Ability and desire to work with others.
Application
Prepare the following documents in advance before you start the application:
- A short resume (no more than 2 pages) as a Word or PDF document, to be uploaded.
- Responses to the following 3 questions, which you will cut and paste into the appropriate fields in the application form:
- Biographical Profile: include a short biographical profile of 100 words or less. This is the type of profile included for staff websites or conference attendees. If you are selected as a Trinity Leadership Fellow, this profile will be used publicly so only include details that you would want to share with a wider audience.
- Short-answer question: In 200 words or less, describe a specific instance when you supported or led a group of people (a congregation, a group of employees/co-workers, a group of volunteers) through an effort to address a challenge, create something new, or build on an opportunity. The focus should be on your role, your interpersonal skills, and your faith as elements in the success of the endeavor.
- Essay question: In an essay of fewer than 500 words (and referring to but not repeating in full the story above) describe your leadership journey as shaped by your faith. The following questions can inform your response: What aspects of your faith inspire/motivate/sustain you to lead? How does your faith shape your interpersonal skills and the ways you work with others to set and achieve common goals? What have you sacrificed or minimized to stay true to your faith in leadership roles? What aspect of your faith or values makes you an effective leader? Your responses must be grounded in specific examples from your work, volunteer work, and/or ministry, examples that you think your references will also note. Conclude your essay with 2-3 sentences describing what you hope to bring to and take away from the Trinity Leadership Fellows experience and how you hope to grow over the course of the fellowship.
For more information, see FAQ and visit Trinity Leadership Fellows.