The church has long understood the value of local assemblies meeting together in conventions or conferences.  Shared worship services and the opportunity to have access to fellow believers and the systems they use help other believers enrich their ministries.

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The Joint College of African American Pentecostal Bishops College takes that concept and refines it for members of Episcopal leadership.  Bishops, pastors, adjutants and deacons have distinctive needs that go beyond those of lay Christian believers.   The demands of church leadership include the reality that discussing issues and discovering solutions is not possible by talking to members of a congregation.

 

The Joint College offers a safe environment where Bishops and those aspiring to that office can receive encouragement, instruction, counseling for issues associated with leadership responsibilities.  The College also creates an accountability platform in the spirit of iron sharpening iron to help bishops and other church leaders be grounded, centered and focused.

The overwhelming comments of all those who attend Joint College events are positive to be sure, but also note how restorative and inspiring to their ministry outlooks are being with fellow episcopates.

 

To the question of why an episcopal leader would send their cleric subordinates to a Joint College, the answer could be seen obvious.  The reputation of Archbishop J. Delano Ellis is well established as being a blend of compassion for leadership and a bulwark for legitimate and principled order for all episcopal issues.  His demand for excellence permeates the entire college assuring all clerics that time spent in Joint College events by their wards will insure their exposure to examples of legitimacy both reinforcing your expectations of them and even shaping their thinking to be better supporters of your vision.