New Beginnings & Faithful Endings

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

This course presents transitional leaders with knowledge and skills to lead congregations facing significant moments of change and transition including such things as shared ministry, amalgamations, or closure and legacy. The course will equip transitional leaders with practical tools to assess congregations, begin discernment, explore partnership, complete existing ministry, and reveal new beginnings.

Readings: Click on the title to order. 

Toward the Better Country: Church Closure and Resurrection
by L. Gail Irwin

Rev. Dr. Diane Kenaston

Rev. Dr. Diane Kenaston

Course Designer/Instructor

Rev. Diane Kenaston is a pastor, writer, coach, and co-founder of the Good Friday Collaborative. She specializes in adaptive change and cultivating communities of justice and peace. After a decade of pastoring United Methodist churches, Rev. Kenaston led a church merger. Earlier she facilitated the sale of two parsonages and helped two yoked churches discern that it was time to separate. She believes in courageously adapting to changing circumstances. Rev. Kenaston has previously been published in the books Speaking Truth, We Pray With Her, and Holy Contradictions. Rev. Kenaston is passionate about ecumenical work. She is the chairperson of Young Clergy Women International. She previously worked as the County Ecumenical Officer for Churches Together in Cambridgeshire in Cambridge, England.

Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver

Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver

Course Designer/Instructor

Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver is an Intentional Interim and Transitional Ministry Specialist in the United Church of Christ (UCC) who has served 4 congregations as Intentional Interim Pastor and as an Interim Consultant. She is also the Moderator of the Old Colony Association of the Southern New England Conference and serves as a member of the Manual on Local Church rollout team for the United Church of Christ. Ruth holds a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University.

To register:

  1. Select the fee that applies to you.
  2. Add to cart then follow shopping cart prompts to complete registration and print receipt.
  3. IMN staff will contact you with further steps to begin your class.
September 15, 22, 29 and October 6, 13, 2026 (11am - 2pm Eastern)
Tuition Fee - Add $895
Non US Member Tuition Fee - Add $716
Non Member Tuition Fee - Add $995

MEMBERSHIP

Membership Fee
New Member - Add $150
Renewal - Add $150
Clergy Spouse - Add $50
Judicatory - Add $170