These reports highlight some of our ongoing projects in the department with preliminary results.

First Call Theological Education Survey
We surveyed 824 rostered leaders in their first three years of called leadership, and 618 leaders responded (75%). One question asked respondents to rate how prepared they felt in their first call to handle several congregational responsibilities. Respondents rated each item on a scale from one to five, with a higher mean rating indicating greater preparedness. Complete mean ratings are shown in Table 1 from highest to lowest level of preparation. Overall, respondents felt they were most prepared to preach, followed by planning worship services and visiting members. In contrast, the respondents reported that they felt least prepared to plan a church budget, plan stewardship programs or manage a church office.

Analyzing the responses by gender and career resulted in several interesting differences. Females rated themselves as more prepared for establishing trusting relationships with members, helping people deal with grief, teaching youth and children, preparing Sunday bulletins, and providing a ministry of healing. On the other hand, males rated themselves as more prepared for preaching, planning stewardship programs, and planning a church budget. Overwhelmingly, second career leaders (aged 35 or older) rated themselves as more prepared for a variety of congregational responsibilities. The only areas where first career leaders felt more prepared were preaching and planning worship services.