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Faith in education: How Best Skills Best Churches helps faith leaders manage their communities
November 30, 2022 – In 2015, Megan Traquair approached the ASU Lodestar Center with a unique request. At the time, Traquair served as canon to the ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, assisting Bishop Kirk Smith. “He heard from his younger clergy that what they could use most was nonprofit training to effectively lead their congregations,” Traquair explained.
They were eager to enroll clergy in a program designed to help them meet the specific needs of their communities—a program that didn’t yet exist. “Churches are in fact nonprofits, and we’ve got a special mission; we believe we’re on a mission from God,” she said. “We really need to have the basic skills to nurture volunteers. How do we develop a long-term strategy, a vision and a mission? How do we communicate our presence in the community?”
They got in touch with Cindi Thiede, the now-retired director of professional development education for the ASU Lodestar Center, to realize their vision. The Center's Nonprofit Management Institute team went to work developing the content, and the Best Skills Best Churches Nonprofit Management Certificate program was born.
The Center's program achieved quick success, and by popular demand, it has since expanded to include leaders from other denominations in Arizona and beyond.
“I’ve even had some conversations with seminary professors about how valuable this is for new grads,” Traquair said. “The reach of Lodestar to change communities has been remarkable.”
Traquair’s role has expanded as well. In June 2019, she was ordained and consecrated the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Northern California, the first female bishop in the diocese’s history. She enrolled her new diocese's leaders in Best Skills Best Churches soon after.
Traquair has served faith communities for nearly 30 years, and her frequent participation in the Best Skills Best Churches program continues to enrich her leadership expertise. “Best Skills has strengthened my ability to lead at every level I have served,” she said. “I’m now bishop, which means I need to be able to reach out to congregations over a vast area, over many different economic and demographic divides, and these skills hold true.”
She’s also thrilled to see these leadership skills reflected in the faith communities she leads. “I am beginning to see the teachings I’ve gained from Best Skills echoed back to me when I attend parish retreats. They come to me and tell me what their vision is, they share what their mission is and they talk about how they’re communicating it to their community—this is straight from Best Skills, and I hear that echo coming back from our most effective churches.”
“Getting our story out there is key for any nonprofit, and Lodestar has helped our churches do that,” Traquair said. “It’s been transformative. It’s information they couldn’t get elsewhere, and it’s really made a difference for them.”
One of the biggest challenges churches face is nurturing volunteers, and Best Skills Best Churches has assisted faith leaders in that endeavor. “Our clergy are our key leaders, but they cannot do it alone, and [the program] is a way for us to invest in our congregations at the root level,” she explained. “Empowering our lay leaders has meant that the skills, the strategy, the mission and the joy that comes from being able to accomplish goals gets routed into the community and becomes part of their DNA.”
The program has also helped shape her congregations’ responses to recent crises. “Now we are practicing [the program] in the Diocese of Northern California, which essentially runs from the Delta to Oregon to Nevada. We’ve had big fires up here, and we had representatives from many churches in those fire-prone areas,” Traquair said. “I see that the training and the insight and the strengthening from Best Skills is helping them rebuild not only the churches in those areas, it’s helping them rebuild their communities as well.”
Traquair appreciates the ASU Lodestar Center’s continued support for her communities. “When I looked out [at my consecration ceremony], I saw Cindi Thiede and [Executive Director] Robert Ashcraft,” she said. “It was so powerful for me to see the partnership that had started in one state extended graciously now that I was in another state, to the point where they represented Lodestar at this important church and community event.”
“There’s no one else doing this right now, but it’s absolutely needed. When I talk to young clergy who are just starting out, they are thrilled to know we are offering this,” she said. “It’s innovative, it’s powerful and it’s effective, and we’ve got a great delivery model.”
Get started with Best Skills Best Churches
This program from the ASU Lodestar Center's Nonprofit Management Institute is specially designed to meet the needs of communities of faith, dubbed by some as “the original nonprofits.” Faith communities face many of the same challenges as secular nonprofits, from fundraising and marketing to volunteer and financial management. Since 2015, Best Skills Best Churches has filled that educational niche for both clergy and lay leaders.
Best Skills Best Churches is one of 10 certified programs in the Nonprofit Management Institute, which is part of ASU’s Learning Enterprise, devoted to resources for people across the age spectrum.