PASTORAL RESIDENCY | What? & For Who?

We believe our neighborhoods, city, nation, and world are transformed by communities of people following Jesus, living whole and holy in themselves and their daily vocations, so then, connecting and equipping them is vital to the mission. We believe that pastors are the “joint(s) with which [the body of Jesus] is equipped…joined and held together...so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:16). Pastors are not the “tip of the spear” nor the “strong arm of service” nor “brains of the operation,” or even its heart; instead, pastors are those immersed and enmeshed in the body, who, through the Spirit and scripture, connect one part to another so that when, where, and how the Head leads, the body may follow.

The Pastoral Residency is a three-year immersive, mentor-based program designed to prepare local church pastoral leaders for “joint” work, the labor of shepherding, teaching, and equipping Jesus’ Church. Christ City Church believes that in developing and sending out those called “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…to full maturity” (Ephesians 4:12-13), we are being faithful stewards of our gifts, talents, and resources, and contributing beyond our apparent limitations to the fullness of the Kingdom’s arrival and growth.

By enmeshing residents within our faith family and empowering them with daily and weekly responsibilities for the faith family, residents can learn to do the work of pastoring by actually doing the work of pastoring. We believe the local church is the place where pastors become pastors, but we cannot do it alone.

Through relationships and partnerships with the The Anchored Collective, Made to Flourish, Acts 29 Network, trusted educational institutions in the DFW area, and various other connections, the Pastoral Residency is designed to help graduating or graduated seminarians transition the knowledge from their education into competent skills and character necessary for a faithful and fruitful pastoral career beyond Christ City Church. Whether your goal is to be a church planter or senior pastor, just as a medical resident is prepared through practice in a “teaching hospital,” so too are Pastoral Residents trained within Christ City Church, not with the intention to stay, but to go, competent and confident in their calling, character, and capabilities to pastor wherever Jesus leads.