Jethro’s Advice: Empowering Lay Leadership for Pastoral Conversations at Congregation Beth Adoni, a Messianic Jewish Community

Abstract

ABSTRACT KENNETH DEWAYNE HUFF JETHRO’S ADVICE: EMPOWERING LAY LEADERSHIP FOR PASTORAL CONVERSATIONS AT CONGREGATION BETH ADONAI, A MESSIANIC JEWISH COMMUNITY Under the direction of DENISE M. MASSEY, PH.D. Congregation Beth Adonai has created a spiritual leadership team that leads Care Groups for congregation members. The leaders of the Care Groups will embrace a better and more meaningful way to provide care for their group members using pastoral conversations. The goal is to teach leaders of the care teams a methodology for conducting effective pastoral conversations so that their lay ministries will be stronger. The study utilized Denise Massey’s methodology for leading pastoral conversations found in her book CARINGTM: Six-Steps for Effective Pastoral Conversations. Lay leaders learned to help members of their care groups develop a clear and loving action plan that will help persons seeking help solve their problems or move toward their goals through pastoral conversations. This study aims to encourage and strengthen the CBA’s spiritual leadership team to practice quality care consistently. To test the hypothesis, four participants from CBA’s leadership team completed a study consisting of six-week PowerPoint training sessions for 45 minutes via Zoom, followed by a one-week PowerPoint Review of Zoom’s training on CARINGTM: Six-Steps for Effective Pastoral Conversations. The participants received a Pre-Survey, Post Survey, and Post-Project Group Interview Questionnaire using qualitative and quantitative data to yield the results. The result suggests pastoral conversations are needed, and learning was obtained.