Congregational Development
What is Grow Church?
Grow Church is the congregational development program of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia.
Grow Church focuses on developing the spiritual community and organizational life of congregations. It equips leaders to serve their congregation by engaging participants in the issues and dynamics that they face as leaders. Grow Church is a program for clergy and lay leaders who desire to transform congregations by making them stronger, healthier, more deeply rooted in Anglican Spirituality, more responsive to God, and more effective in their communities.
Who does it impact?
Individuals – in spiritual formation, expanding self-awareness, leadership skills, and ability to work in teams
Congregations – in defining clarity of purpose, encouraging healthy dynamics, and intentional development
Diocese – in providing a common theory base, along with the tools and skills of congregational development that build a critical mass of healthy congregations.
Grow Church is for laity and clergy alike. Individuals, whether lay or clergy, are welcome to sign up; we particularly encourage congregations to send teams to Grow Church so that participants may share their learning together and have a deeper impact in their parish.
What does the Grow Church program look like?
Grow Church is a two-year program that gathers four times per year (eight times over two years) for overnight meetings. Programming kicks off Friday morning (9:45am) and runs through Saturday early afternoon (approximately 2:30pm).
Each overnight event will focus on forming participants as a community and as members of the Diocese of West Virginia, teach congregational development skills, and offer opportunities for continued spiritual formation and worship.
Learning modules focus on topics including parish dynamics, trust development, understanding and addressing conflict, faith sharing and evangelism, spirituality and the Daily Office, and more. As participants continue in the program, they’ll take the skills they’ve learned in Grow Church and apply them by undertaking projects designed to address specific needs in their home parishes.
What is the cost of Grow Church?
For 2025-2026, Grow Church costs $750 per person. This includes all materials and meals for participants at the four yearly gatherings. The price also includes overnight accommodations at the John XXIII Pastoral Center. Checks may be made payable to the Diocese of West Virginia with “Grow Church” in the memo. Please note: the full cost of the Grow Church program is approximately $50,000 and is significantly subsidized by the Diocesan budget. Some scholarship funds are available through the Diocese; we encourage congregations to help offset costs for participants whenever possible.
What are the dates and locations for Grow Church 2025-2026?
September 19-20, 2025
December 12-13, 2025
January 30-31, 2026
May 29-30, 2026
What is expected of Grow Church participants?
Grow Church participants are expected to fully participate in each weekend; while we understand that illness and other emergent situations pop up, participants should not schedule other things during Grow Church sessions. If a participant has to miss a session, they are expected to complete a makeup session in coordination with Grow Church leaders.
Participants are also expected to complete some work in between sessions. Over the course of the two years, this will include short reading assignments, the completion of parish experiments, a visit to another Grow Church parish, and more (though not all at the same time!).
For more information about Congregational Development, please contact The Rev. Canon Jordan Trumble.