Congregational Consulting
When your congregation is stuck, divided, or unsure of its next chapter — you need more than advice. You need a skilled guide.
The moment you know you need outside help
There’s usually a moment when a congregation’s leadership realizes they can’t find their way through from the inside alone.
Maybe the congregation has just lost a long-tenured pastor and nobody quite knows how to grieve, lead, and look forward all at once. Maybe a conflict that started small has spread through the congregation like a slow leak, and now it’s in the walls. Maybe the church has been faithfully showing up for decades but quietly wonders whether it’s still doing what it was planted to do and what the future even holds.
Maybe your leadership team is full of genuinely good people who simply cannot get aligned. Every meeting ends with more tension than clarity. Decisions get made but never quite land. The same conversation keeps happening, just in different rooms.
Whatever the presenting issue, the deeper reality is usually the same: your congregation has wisdom, faith, and resources it cannot fully access on its own right now. What’s needed is a structured process, a skilled outside presence, and enough emotional safety for the truth to surface.
That’s what I do.
What I Am — And What I’m Not
There are two kinds of consultants, and the difference matters.
A prescriptive consultant diagnoses your situation and prescribes a solution. They come in, assess what’s wrong, and tell you what to do. Sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed, particularly for technical problems with known solutions.
A process consultant works differently. I operate from a foundational conviction: there is already enough wisdom, resources, and courage in your congregation to face your current reality, navigate your challenges, and move toward a better future. My job is not to bring you the answers. My expertise is in designing and facilitating a process that helps you find and act on your own.
This matters in congregational life for a specific reason. When a pastor or board chair imposes a solution, even a good one, the congregation hasn’t owned it. When a community arrives at a decision together — through honest conversation, genuine discernment, and a process that honored every voice — that decision sticks. It carries the weight of shared commitment.
Process consulting is slower than being told what to do. It’s also far more durable.
What I Believe About Congregations
I bring a particular theological and organizational conviction to this work:
Congregations are not failing businesses in need of a turnaround strategy. They are living communities of faith — complex, adaptive, deeply human, and shaped by decades of shared story. The tools that work in a corporate boardroom often land wrong in a church. And the tools that work in a church, like honest confession, communal discernment, lament, hope are often dismissed as too “soft” for organizational life.
I refuse that trade-off. The frameworks I use are both spiritually resonant and organizationally rigorous. Your congregation deserves both.
What We Can Work On Together
Congregational Health & Listening Processes
Sometimes a congregation simply needs to hear itself from all of its members, and not just the voices that are loudest or closest to the center of power. I design and facilitate listening processes that create genuine space for diverse voices: small group conversations, all-congregation gatherings, leadership team discernment sessions. The goal is a clearer, shared picture of where the congregation actually is, which is often different from where its leaders assume it is.
This work is especially valuable for: congregations navigating transition, conflict, or a season of discernment about identity and direction.
Conflict Facilitation & Mediation Support
Conflict in a congregation is not a sign that something has gone wrong. It is a sign that something is alive. But unmanaged conflict, like conflict that goes underground, that becomes personal, that splits along factions, can do lasting damage to a community’s trust and mission.
I help leadership teams and congregations name what’s actually happening beneath the surface: the unmet needs, the competing values, the grief that’s disguised as anger. I create structured, emotionally safe environments where hard things can be said and heard and where a path forward becomes visible.
I draw on the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory, Non-Violent Communication frameworks, and Bowenian family systems theory, as well as my own Anatomy of Conflict curriculum, which addresses conflict at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systemic levels.
This work is especially valuable for: congregations experiencing active conflict, leadership teams with chronic relational dysfunction, and churches emerging from a painful pastoral exit.
Strategic Planning & Future Discernment
Most congregational strategic plans fail not because the goals were wrong, but because the process that produced them didn’t go deep enough. A plan that emerges from a single retreat weekend, built around a template that could fit any church, will not carry a congregation through the hard work of real change.
My approach to strategic planning is holistic; it attends to a congregation’s identity, relationships, resources, and external context, and not just its programs and finances. Using my Holistic Strategic Planning framework, we move through a discernment process that surfaces genuine community wisdom and produces a direction the congregation actually believes in and will work toward.
This work is especially valuable for: congregations at an inflection point — plateaued growth, a new pastoral chapter, a significant anniversary, or a changing neighborhood context.
Leadership Team Development & Retreats
A congregation rises and falls on the health of its leadership team — staff, board, elders, deacons, whatever form that takes in your context. I design and facilitate leadership retreats and development experiences that build trust, clarify roles and expectations, align around shared vision and values, and develop the practical leadership skills teams need to work well together.
Drawing on my Leadership Triangle framework, I help leadership teams understand their collective strengths and gaps across the three essential domains of congregational leadership: Vision, Action, and People.
This work is especially valuable for: new pastoral teams building culture, existing teams in need of realignment, and leadership groups preparing for a season of significant change.
What the Process Looks Like
No two consulting engagements look exactly alike — because no two congregations are in exactly the same situation. But here is the general arc of how I work:
Step 1 — Initial Conversation (Free) We start with a 30-minute call to understand your situation, your goals, and whether I’m the right fit for what you’re navigating. I’ll be honest with you if I think someone else would serve you better.
Step 2 — Discovery & Assessment Before I design anything, I need to understand your congregation. This typically involves individual conversations with key leaders, a review of relevant documents, and sometimes a brief congregational survey or assessment. The goal is to see your situation clearly before we start working on it.
Step 3 — Process Design Together, we co-create a consulting process tailored to your situation, timeline, and budget. I’ll propose a structure; you’ll push back, refine it, and own it. The process design itself is a collaborative act.
Step 4 — Facilitated Engagement This is where the structured work happens — listening sessions, retreat facilitation, conflict conversations, discernment processes, whatever the engagement calls for. I show up with full preparation, a calm and curious presence, and the flexibility to follow the energy of the group when the Spirit moves in unexpected directions.
Step 5 — Synthesis & Next Steps Every engagement ends with a clear synthesis of what we heard, decided, and committed to — and a concrete set of next steps with accountability built in. You won’t leave wondering what just happened.
Consulting Engagements & Investment
Because every engagement is customized, I don’t publish fixed package prices for consulting work. What I can tell you is that my consulting work is typically structured in one of three ways:
Single-Day Engagement — A focused retreat, facilitated conversation, or workshop experience. Ideal for leadership team development, a strategic planning launch, or a specific conflict conversation. Typically ranges from $900–$1,800 depending on preparation, travel, and scope.
Short-Term Consultation — A 4–8 week process involving multiple touchpoints: assessment, facilitated sessions, and a synthesis report. Ideal for congregations navigating conflict, a pastoral transition, or a focused discernment question. Typically ranges from $1,800–$4,000 depending on scope and congregation size.
Extended Consulting Relationship — A 3–6 month partnership involving ongoing process design, facilitation, and coaching support for leadership. Ideal for congregations navigating significant transitions or undertaking a full strategic planning process. Pricing determined by scope; typically begins at $4,500.
After a free 30-minute exploratory conversation, I typically will give you a ball-park figure of the cost. I work hard to make my services accessible to smaller and under-resourced congregations. If budget is a real constraint, tell me — I’d rather find a creative solution than have the right congregation go without support.
If you want to work with me, I will draft a proposal for you and/or your organization to sign along with a full or partial payment. Once payment is received, I’ll co-create with you a more detailed plan.
“Michael consulted with our aging congregation when we were seeking clarity regarding our future. His guidance through the process and his church-wide presentation helped us to gift our church building and merge with another church. Even though that was a very difficult decision, I believe we got just about everything we were looking for from the surveys and listening sessions. And now, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that we would have so many young families with kids so quickly. The pastor is an amazing preacher and Godly man. Just reinforces that we serve an amazing God whose plans for us are so much larger than we can imagine. I would absolutely recommend Michael to any church going through these types of issues.”
— Mike Petrey, Member, Woodland Church/Lifepoint Church, Louisville, KY
Our congregation recently participated in a ‘Thriving Congregation’ experience led by Michael. The activities enabled us to name overlooked assets present within our congregation and helped us to explore our relationship with the community more effectively — by listening to the community’s needs rather than assuming we knew them. Our relationships improved, our gifts were acknowledged, and our self-awareness heightened by this process. We are an even healthier, more faithful, and more productive congregation inside and outside our building’s walls.”
— Rev. Sue Schaeffer, Pastor, Emmanuel United Church of Christ, Nuremberg, PA
“Michael’s skills in organization, communication, and facilitation made my work as the founder and president of the Charlottesville Clergy Collective one of the most enjoyable experiences in leading any organization. I trust Michael explicitly, and the CCC would not be where it is today without him.”
— Rev. Dr. Alvin Edwards, Pastor, Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church; Founder and First President, Charlottesville Clergy Collective
“There are two things that stand out about working with Michael. One is that he is a compassionate listener. He created a board retreat that fit our needs and an environment that encouraged honest communication. The second is his openness — he stayed on point yet was flexible to adapt as opportunity, as the Spirit, opened. With his help, we gained insights, connections, and signposts for the next steps in our journey.”
— Ady Dewey, Board Chair, The Open Door
“Because of his expertise and skills in facilitation, listening, and mediation, Michael is frequently called on by the Center for Congregational Health to work with congregations who desire a consultant for conflict management, dreaming into their future, and team development. I am always struck by his calm, encouraging, and reassuring facilitation and presence. Michael cares deeply in helping congregations listen, hear, and respond to God’s calling in their communal and spiritual existence.”
— Beth Kennett, Director, Center for Congregational Health
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from bringing in a denominational resource person? Denominational consultants do valuable work, and I often work alongside them. The difference is that I come without an institutional stake in your outcome. I have no denominational agenda, no pressure to move you in a particular theological or organizational direction. My only commitment is to a process that serves your congregation’s health and mission.
Do you work with congregations outside of Baptist traditions? Absolutely. I’ve worked with congregations from UCC, Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Methodist, nondenominational, and even other faith traditions. While my pastoral background is Baptist, my consulting frameworks and facilitation approach are not tradition-specific. If your congregation takes authenticity and community seriously, we can probably work well together.
What if our conflict is severe? Is it too late for a process like this? Rarely. In my experience, the severity of conflict is less important than the willingness of key leaders to engage an honest process. Even deeply divided congregations can find a path forward when there’s genuine commitment to listening and mutual respect. That said, some situations require specialized mediation or legal support that goes beyond my scope. If that’s what you need, I’ll tell you directly.
How long does a typical consulting engagement last? It depends entirely on the nature and scope of the work. A leadership retreat might be a single day with two to three hours of preparation. A full congregational visioning consultation might span four to six months. In our initial conversation, I’ll give you my honest assessment of what your situation calls for.
Will you tell us what to do? Not usually — and that’s intentional. My role is to create the conditions for your community to find and own its own best answers. That said, I won’t hide my perspective when you ask for it. If I see something clearly that the group is missing, I’ll name it. Process consulting isn’t the same as having no point of view.
Can you work with us remotely? Yes, significantly. Discovery conversations, coaching for leadership, and some facilitation work happens effectively by Zoom. Full-congregation listening sessions and retreat facilitation are almost always best in person. Most engagements involve a combination of both.
Do you work with organizations outside of congregational settings? Yes, selectively. My frameworks translate well to nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and mission-driven teams. If you’re outside the congregational world but sense that my approach resonates, reach out and let’s see if there’s a fit.
One more thing worth saying
Consulting relationships require trust — and trust takes time to build. I don’t expect you to hand me the keys to your congregation based on a website. What I do ask is that you take 30 minutes to have an honest conversation, ask me the hard questions, and let me ask a few of you.
If it’s the right fit, you’ll know it. If it’s not, I’ll help you find someone who is.