What is Pivot Online Learning?
The Pivot program is an eight-month, cohort-based learning experience that allows smaller, under-resourced communities of faith to discern what God is calling them to be in their particular place and time. The experience is a way of pivoting mindsets into becoming truly relevant places of worship, community, and faith in local areas.
What Will Pivot Teams Experience?
Each faith community builds a team of leaders to go through the Pivot curriculum that is held 100% online, and each cohort can be up to eight communities from across the Episcopal Church. The teams connect with each other through the online learning portal and have access to discussion boards as they collaborate and learn.
The curriculum is a mix of videos, readings, and discussion prompt with the other participating communities. Most of the learning is completed asynchronously (on your own time) with a synchronous (live) cohort Zoom session at the end of each lesson led by the ECF Adaptive Ministries team.
During the cohort Zooms special guest speakers from around the church share their ministry, inspire creativity, and enhance the curriculum.
What are the Expected Outcomes of Pivot?
Congregational teams will participate with their cohort in three main online lessons that will help them assess their current strengths, learn more about the neighborhood in which they serve, and connect their personal charisms with community need:
- Know Your Faith Community
- Know Your Neighbors
- Know Your Mission
At the end of the Pivot journey each faith community should expect to have new ministry ideas directly connected to their local neighborhoods. Many participating communities also discover current ministries that no longer serve a missional purpose.
Which Faith Communities Should Participate in Pivot?
Pivot is designed especially for smaller, under-resourced, and under-represented Episcopal communities of faith who often feel they don’t have enough resources to offer truly effective local ministry. These communities may be rural or urban, with a clergy presence or none, and committed to shifting towards an abundance mindset.
Larger and more resourced communities are also welcome to join a Pivot cohort and will receive the same benefits and learning applicable to their context.
How Can I Learn More About Pivot?
ECF has created a preview course for the Pivot journey titled “Is Pivot Right for You?” This preview is built using the same online learning tool as the main course to give faith leaders an understanding of how the teaching takes place and to see how easy the technology is to use. Anyone in a congregation can take the preview course as your community discerns participation.
Have more specific questions? We would love to have a conversation with you! Email a member of the Adaptive Ministries team at [email protected].
How Do I join Pivot?
The next cohort of Pivot will begin in the fall of 2024. To express an interest in becoming part of that cohort, you may email [email protected] or complete the “Is Pivot Right for You?” preview lesson.
Stories from the 2023 Pivot Cohort
Team member from a parish in Louisiana - "Pivot has given me a renewed enthusiasm for the future of our parish and the tools to enable us to live into our mission."
Team member from a parish in New Jersey - "I am now looking at our congregation through the lens of how strong God’s power is. We have made positive steps towards doing new things in a new way. I feel we are being led by the Holy Spirit."
Team member from a parish in Washington - "I believe this can be a transformative experience for a small congregation — from a mindset of scarcity to abundance, from inward looking at the challenges at hand to looking outward to the community beyond the church doors, from isolation to connection."
Kjerstin Besser