Mission Excellence Program in Leadership & Management

This two-year program for those in priestly formation at Saint John’s Seminary offers a unique opportunity to equip future priests with management and leadership tools and skills. This program has been divided into two separate modules. The third-year theology seminarians focus on practical and technical skills of running a parish or any organization, from budgeting through philanthropy, to property management. While the fourth year theologians are introduced to topics of leadership.

The curriculum for the management module is built upon a faith-based approach to church management. Classes focus on specific management topics within the context of church leadership and include both lectures and hands-on activities. We discuss topics and provide tools for goal setting, technology/data, stewardship, financial literacy, budgeting, transparency, financial statements, personal finances organizing human resources, organizational structure and behavior, and advisory board utilization.

The leadership module, designed for the fourth year theology seminarians, provides a roadmap to achieving leadership excellence. Classes are designed to help Seminarians be better equipped to take on the wide variety of challenges and opportunities leadership provides. Seminarians are led through the foundational aspects and practical implications of leadership. All classes include a combination of lectures, guest speaker presentations, and practical hands-on activities.