First-call congregation: A place for rookies
Congregations billed as "teaching congregations" are plentiful these days. Many evangelical churches advertise their teaching role and support seminaries of their own. A number of mainline congregations host "transition into ministry" programs for seminary graduates. But a self-conscious "teaching church" with only 100 members?
"Calypso Presbyterian is a teaching church for sure," affirms Lewis Galloway, senior pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. Galloway, who directs a pastoral residency program of his own, served in Calypso, North Carolina, 30 years ago. He found Calypso Presbyterian to be a place where members feel free to guide rookie pastors "gently, always gently, in better directions," and where the members are also eager to grow and learn.
"For a small church, it has a wealth of strong lay leaders," said Galloway, who said that the church has continued to make room for new pastors to develop as ministers.
