ABOUT THE COACHING COHORT
Calling all Ruling Elders – past and present!
Will you in your own life seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors, and work for the reconciliation of the world? Do you promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church? Will you pray for and seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?
Ruling Elders are the heartbeat of their congregation and the most effective change-makers within it. Guided by our ordination vows, come join a group of Ruling Elders from across the denomination who are committed to dismantling racism, deepening their leadership skills for the work, and curious about how they might affect change from within a congregation.
The cohort will meet virtually once a month for six sessions. Participants will also receive one individual coaching session with the cohort registration. Each session will be using the 6-session recorded series “Antiracist Practices for Faithful Leadership” as grounding for the conversation. Participants may opt to add a group coaching package along with their registration (details below).
ABOUT THE COACHING COHORT
Calling all Ruling Elders – past and present!
Will you in your own life seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors, and work for the reconciliation of the world? Do you promise to further the peace, unity, and purity of the church? Will you pray for and seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?
Our ordination vows, as Ruling Elders, differ only slightly front those of Ministers of Word and Sacrament. Yet through denominational and cultural systems, we have allowed ourselves to be relegated as “just elders” when our very call by God asks us to be and do more than “just the bare minimum.”
How do we serve faithfully and live into our call as faith leaders while dismantling the system that put us there? Join us as we dig deeper into these questions together.
Participants will learn alongside a cohort of peers, receive both group and individual coaching from trained coaches, and engage with a 6-session recorded series “Antiracist Practices for Faithful Leadership” produced by Crossroads Antiracism Organizing & Training exclusively for NEXT Church. The recorded series features Jessica Vazquez Torres and Shawna Bowman as teachers.
Cohort will meet for six weekly sessions. Participants will also receive one individual coaching session with the cohort registration. Participants may opt to register for a full coaching package (recommended) to receive five total individual coaching sessions to work on their own leadership goals, to be completed by the end of January.
COHORT DETAILS
- Each session will include 90 minutes of small group coaching.
- Additionally, every participant will receive 1 individual coaching session (50-minutes) to clarify individual goals for the cohort.
- Participants are expected to watch the recorded sessions (30 minutes each) ahead of each cohort meeting.
- This cohort will meet on the first Monday of the month from 7:00-8:30pm ET (4:00-5:30pm PT) on October 2, November 6, December 4, January 8, February 5, and March 4.
- Spaces are limited to keep the cohort experience small.
- Cost is $375 per participant for the cohort.
+ ADD A GROUP COACHING PACKAGE
NEXT Church values opportunities that lead to lasting impact. Because of this, we are offering a coaching package for a group in your church. Are you a member of Session or an Antiracism Committee? Bring some of your learning and engagement back to your congregation through the leadership of one of your cohort coaches to help guide your next steps to sustainable action. Each session is 50 minutes in length.
3 Session Coaching Package – $499
5 Session Coaching Package (best value) – $749
MOVING TOWARDS IMPACT
NEXT Church values opportunities that lead to impact as a way to interrupt a consumer culture. In a consumer culture, participants sit back and consume what an expert is saying without ownership for learning and growth. But if we want to transform our communities, our churches, and ourselves, we must play an active role to create impact.
NEXT Church also believes the hard work of learning that leads to justice is best done in accountable community. As people of faith, we believe community is essential for faithful discernment, support, and mutual accountability. Cohort participants and leaders are invited to challenge and hold one another accountable.
Because of these values, we partner cohort learning with individual coaching. By registering for a cohort, you accept the invitation into this community as an active learner with a commitment towards actionable next steps.
REGISTER NOW
Registration opens on Tuesday, June 20.
Registration closes on Friday, September 29, or when the cohort fills.
This cohort is filled and no longer available for registration.
If you would like to be placed on a waitlist or notified when the next cohort opens, let us know.
Registration for the Winter Cohort closes on January 17.
ABOUT THE SESSIONS
Session 1: Will you in your own life seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors, and work for the reconciliation of the world?
This week we will dig deeper into what we are willing to risk in bringing reconciliation and restoration to the world and church. Are we willing to let go of siloed programmatic models to move towards communal mission? What support do you need to shift your leadership practices?
LEADERSHIP

Jesy Littlejohn
Jesy Littlejohn (they/them) is the quirky mohawk-ed person, an ICF trained coach, an Elder in the PCUSA church, and serves on Staff at National Capital Presbytery and Oaklands Presbyterian Church. Jesy is committed to Anti-Racism work with every fiber of their being, and understands that this is not a box to check on a to-do list but a complete systemic disruption and life-changing way of being, thinking, and praying. They approach this work with the privilege of a white, queer lens, AND uses that privilege to call out white supremacy when and where they see it. They are constantly working to reform themselves (which is very PCUSA of them) and go where God is calling them however uncomfortable it may seem.

Shani McIlwain
Shani McIlwain (she/her) wants to live in a world free of intolerance, racism and hate. You will find her a multi-tasking type, working not only as a best-selling author, but also as a group facilitator and an executive coach that leads individuals and groups in faithful and transparent conversations of dismantling racism and white supremacy.
Shani is the current Moderator for National Capital Presbytery. She is a Ruling Elder at Faith Presbyterian Church (Washington, DC), serving on CPM, Spiritual Formation, Co-Chair for the Young Adult Volunteer Board, Co-Moderator of Black Presbyterians United, and serves on the NEXT Church Operations Team.