Building Pathways for Leaders to Take Next Steps

The Program for the Future Church (PFFC) at Truett Seminary is building pathways for congregations and Christian leaders to step into the future through three programmatic areas: convening, contextual research, and curriculum.

Over the last three years, the PFFC has regularly and purposefully gathered pastors and teams of ministry leaders through 32 convenings that have engaged more than 500 individuals and cultivated meaningful connections with 30 congregations and organizations that resource congregations. 

Connect

Using convenings as a first step, pastors and congregations are always at the heart of what the PFFC is doing. “We work to link the work of pastors and congregations to  projects that are happening elsewhere in the community,” said Dustin Benac, director of the Program for the Future Church. “Additionally, we always encourage pastors and ministry leaders to not come alone to our gatherings.” 

One of the primary offerings of the PFFC, the Collaboratory, provides time for teams of ministry leaders to reconnect, rest, and imagine new possibilities. “Every year, connections form, new partnerships begin, and leaders report how gathering together gave them new ways to imagine the future,” continued Benac. “More personally, ministers have expressed a renewed commitment to invest in families in their congregations, consider how best to use the resources entrusted to them, and remove barriers  for partnership with their local communities.”

Output 

The PFFC also engages in contextual and collaborative research that involves pastors and church leaders As an example of the output of this research, the PFFC has developed a Belonging Reading Guide, co-designed a toolkit for ministry leaders who are trying to determine how best to utilize their church buildings and resources, and launched a video series about practices to lead for the long haul. 

“Pastors are our conversation partners and co-creators in this work,” said Benac. “One current research project on Leadership and Loneliness invites ministry leaders to consider the varied connections and disconnections that surround them in ministry. Based on their responses, we will develop resources out of this research to address the lived experience of the pastors who partner with us in this work.”

Teach

“There is no future for the Church without the next generation of pastors and ministry leaders,” said Benac. “As we envision a hopeful future for the Church, we are reminded time and again that Truett students—of all ages and stages—are a great source of hope.” Through the work done by the PFFC, both curricular and co-curricular resources are being developed.
At its annual Research Hub, students, pastors, and researchers gather and discuss topics of shared concern. “Having already investigated belonging  as well as leadership and loneliness,  mental health and burnout are our topics for 2025,” shared Benac. “We are also partnering with Truett faculty member Mike Stroope to pilot the Baylor Ecclesial Entrepreneurship Program (BEEP), which places ministry leaders in cohorts to explore how faithful innovation can enrich their ministry contexts.” The PFFC is also currently working to provide curricula and certificates to support further pastors and congregations. 

The PFFC does this work because it is wholeheartedly and unapologetically for the Church. As Benac recently wrote, “We are for the Church and for the related institutions that surround the Church because in Christ we see that God is for us.” 

Through the PFFC’s work of convening, contextual research, and curriculum pastors and communities are invited to look to a hopeful future, grounded in God, and in the company of others. 

Interested in taking the next step with the PFFC?

1. You can sign up for the PFFC’s newsletter, Future Church Fieldnotes, to receive regular updates and resources. 
2. You can contribute to our research by taking a 15-minutes survey about your experience in ministry leaders.