One of the deepest convictions we hold at the American Anglican Council (AAC) is that healthy leaders and healthy governance belong together. They rise and fall together. You can’t have one without the other! In this present moment of difficulty within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), that truth has only become clearer. The challenges we face highlight the need for growth in both areas. Healthy governance matters, and so does the personal health and spiritual formation of the leaders who guide our churches.

At the AAC, we remain committed to both. Yet when it comes to developing healthy leaders, we’re interested in more than leadership skills alone. Competency matters, of course, but character matters even more. We care about the heart of the leader. We want leaders formed into the likeness of Christ. Leaders may not be perfect, but they’re growing! We look to develop the kind of internal character that shapes external leadership with humility, honesty, and integrity.

One of the most important ways we invest in that kind of character formation is through our Clergy Care Groups. These groups, which have been running quietly but faithfully across the province, are uniquely equipped to tend to the inner life of our clergy leaders. We currently have 225 clergy in groups, including one group of five bishops! These are not casual gatherings. They are intentional, high-trust communities where leaders can tell the truth about their lives, be prayed for, be challenged, and be formed.

The curriculum that guides these groups was developed by the Rev. Geoff Chapman, who spent many years studying with Dallas Willard and working closely with his teaching on the transformation of the inner life. Geoff took that deep well of formation teaching and shaped it into a multi-year journey that leads clergy into a richer understanding of discipleship, spiritual growth, and the steady, Spirit-led formation of Christlikeness. The material invites clergy to walk at the pace of spiritual growth, where God’s work goes below the surface and begins to renew the heart. His heart for the spiritual growth of leaders is one of the reasons these groups exist and continue to bear fruit across the ACNA.

I can say this with full confidence because I’ve experienced it myself. I’ve been part of Clergy Care Groups for more than seven years and have participated in two different groups. Both groups shaped my faith and character in ways I couldn’t have received on my own. In my first group, two of the four members were later elected to serve as bishops! I know these men well. I know their prayer lives, their struggles, and their integrity. I saw firsthand the work the Holy Spirit was doing in them through our group. I can say without hesitation that their presence in the College of Bishops is a gift to the Church, and that their time in a Clergy Care Group helped form the character they now bring to their ministry.

My current group continues to be just as meaningful. For two years, I met with the three other members entirely online. We knew each other’s stories, joys, burdens, and temptations, yet none of us had ever stood in the same room together. That changed last week. I was invited to lead a workshop on church revitalization for the Diocese of the Mid Atlantic at their synod gathering. One of my group members serves as a priest in that diocese. We arranged to meet in person for the first time. I cannot fully describe what it’s like to embrace someone you already know deeply, someone who knows you, someone who’s prayed with you and walked with you, even though your first in-person meeting happens years into the friendship. It’s sacred; that’s the only word that fits.

There’s something holy that happens in these groups. Pastors who spend their lives pouring into the souls of others often have few places where they can open their own soul. Clergy Care Groups offer that place. They offer the gift of truth-telling. They offer the gift of accountability. They offer the gift of formation. And when clergy take this process seriously, it cultivates leaders who are healthier, humbler, and better equipped to shepherd the people of God.

A healthier clergy means a healthier church. We all benefit when leaders walk in humility and spiritual stability. Although we will always need healthy governance in our structures (because we live in a fallen world and even the most Christlike among us are still imperfect), the more we invest in the inner life of our leaders, the more we strengthen the very foundation of our province. Good structures can correct problems; healthy hearts prevent them.

That’s one reason I’m inviting you to join us in prayer for the continued growth of these groups. Given the season we’re in, I believe this ministry is more important than ever. We want to see more clergy in Clergy Care Groups because this is one of the clearest ways to cultivate the kind of leadership that avoids the messes that harm the church and hurt the faithful. Formation matters. Character matters. The work God does in these groups is quiet, but it’s not small. It shapes the kind of leaders we all need.

If you’re a clergy leader in the ACNA and would like to join a group or learn more about how they work, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at meldredge@americananglican.org. I can’t promise the group will be easy, but I can promise it will be worth it. The church needs leaders whose lives are being shaped by Christ from the inside out. That’s the work these groups do, and it’s work I believe in with all my heart.