In cooperation with Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Nashville Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church, the Turner Center serves the development of clergy and lay leadership in the regional church.

The Christian Church in the United States, including the United Methodist Church, is facing a crisis in leadership. Fewer are choosing to enter the ministry and more are leaving over time. Any solution to the church’s leadership crisis must go beyond merely attracting good and gifted people to the calling of ministry. It also must provide for the continued care and development of those called into ministry. Faithful and imaginative ministry must be sustained by creative and consistent efforts from those responsible for the quality of ministry: theological schools, regional church bodies, and concerned lay leaders.

These difficult times in the church are compounded by disruptions in the civil society, the economy, and the culture. The current generation of leadership in the church is often not prepared to deal with these changes or to lead the congregation in new ways of being the faithful church of Jesus Christ. These leaders are in urgent need of formation in effective forms of leadership, in theologically sound reconceptualizations of ministry and mission, and in the spiritual formation that would give them the courage and perseverance to lead in this time of crisis. The Center commits itself to bringing the best possible resources of academy and church to the task of creating new leadership in the church.

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