CrossForm: Equipping Leaders for 21st Century Ministry

By Graham Hart & Cindy Halvorson.

Most of us have a toolbox. I (Graham) have one my dad gave me a year before he died. He made it as a first-year student at Williamson Trade School. It would hold all the tools necessary for him to become a carpenter/general contractor. He went on to become an electrical engineer, but he kept those tools and that toolbox. 

In post-depression and pre-WWII America, those tools were the best – good enough to build a house or any set of bookcases. However, they would not be the go-to tools of a builder in 2025, nor are they the tools I use. My work bench has an assortment of power tools that get the job done quickly. If my dad were to go to trade school today, he would graduate with a very different set of tools in his toolbox.

The same is true for faith leaders. The 21st century requires a different set of tools to use in leading our congregations. That’s why LeaderWise created CrossForm.

CrossForm is a congregational experience that equips congregational leadership teams with the right tools for ministry in our challenging 21st century context.  CrossForm’s focus is threefold: 

• Strengthening core around identity, vision and mission, 

• Developing flexibility around program and structure, and 

• Increasing missional Impact for the flourishing of community. 

Over an 18-month period, a 4- to 5-member leadership team from a congregation (including lay and professional staff) will help set the trajectory for that congregation for seasons to come. CrossForm’s process includes five Saturday morning immersions (via Zoom) over the 18 months, monthly coaching for clergy, and weekly encouragement and check-ins for teams. It is offered as a cohort experience for up to 12 congregations, ecumenical in nature welcoming different denominations and faith traditions. Together, we begin to see with new eyes the work we are called to do, and maybe – just maybe – because of that, the congregation will start to experience transformation. 

The intended outcomes of the CrossForm experience are:

• Discovering Strength-driven leadership – We can only fully serve out of our strengths. This cohort will help you both individually and collectively develop a portrait of leadership to empower you to serve out of the intersection of your strengths and passions, in response to the needs of the community.

• Understanding how to lead intentional change – We all have preferences with regard to the role we play in leading change. This cohort will help you to better understand those preferences and how change really happens, and the integral relationship between our spiritual formation and transformation, thereby releasing energy toward innovation for the sake of transformed lives.

• Building Capacity for Transformed Lives – Scriptures call us to be transformed degree by degree. Yet institutional survival often gets in the way of the formational journey. Our work together will support you in the delicate dance between the two vital jobs of equipping disciple-making leaders and running an organization.

• Finding a Clarity of Why – Faith leaders live in the dance between past and present. We are called to maintain the integrity of ministry, even as we remain open and faithful to the emergence of the new. 

• Increasing Missional Awareness and Impact – Together we explore the purpose of our faith communities, rooting ourselves in a new or renewed sense of mission while also understanding the unique needs of our communities at this critical time so that we may identify where our congregational gifts/strengths meet the needs of our communities. We are able to answer the question: If your faith community closed tomorrow, what would the local community miss? 

Without promising easy answers, or giving a one-size-fits-all approach, CrossForm is designed to help congregational leaders face the challenges of being communities of faith today. In 2020, LeaderWise launched CrossForm as a prototype, and in 2022–2023, LeaderWise offered the program again. Both experiences, totaling 13 congregations, confirmed the value and impact CrossForm can have. You can read one of our CrossForm Good News stories here. 

If you and your congregation are trying to figure out what the questions are and discover new frameworks and tools to understand the world in which we live, CrossForm may be for you. 

LeaderWise plans to begin another CrossForm Cohort in fall 2025. If you are interested and want more details, please contact Mary Kay DuChene.

Is your congregation ready for CrossForm?