Candler Center for Christian Leadership
The Candler Center for Christian Leadership (CCCL) expands opportunities for United Methodist leaders to be trained in best business practices in onboarding, team building, strategic planning, financial management, and other areas.
In addition to the typical demands of ministry, pastors—especially those called to larger, more complex parishes—must also navigate a variety of challenges related to essential business operations of the congregation.
The Candler Center for Christian Leadership trains United Methodist pastors, district superintendents, and bishops in necessary operational skills such as:
- Transitioning well as a new leader with staffs, laity, and boards
- Creating healthy and effective teams
- Providing healing models for congregations who have experienced conflict
- Navigating division and challenges for inclusion and collaboration
- Leading and managing organizational change
- Providing models for effective communication where all voices are heard and respected
The CCCL was created in partnership with Senior Consultant Claire Bowen, a corporate HR professional and lifelong United Methodist who has been leading this work since 2016. Candler now serves as the institutional home for this non-degree program with the goal of serving leaders across The United Methodist Church and in time, other denominations. Additional leadership development specialties to be offered in the future will include team building, strategic planning, and personnel management.
Pillar One – Leadership Support System (On-Boarding)
- Provide leadership support for newly appointed leaders by bringing a trained facilitator to your setting. This support includes programs such as On-Boarding, On-Boarding Follow-up, Team Building and Healing Models, and strategic visioning through “Plan on a Page.”
- Offer skills training for day-to-day church or conference management, focusing on effective team leadership. Topics include “Coaching Up and Counseling Out,” hiring best practices, leading committees, budget management, self-care, and more.
- Partner with church leaders to help recruit the next generation of UMC pastors through initiatives like “Culture of Call” best practices.
- This Leadership Support System is facilitated by certified conference personnel.
Pillar Two – Learning Cohorts
- Strengthen pastor retention by fostering connections with colleagues, supporting their well-being, tenure, and accountability.
- Develop cohorts for laity to deepen their understanding of: 1) the United Methodist connection and its significance, 2) the richness of United Methodist theology, and 3) the structure, polity, and function of the United Methodist Church.
- Cohort types include:
- New Associates in Large Churches
- Pastors serving churches that remained United Methodist after a failed disaffiliation vote
- Church Planers
- Cross-Racial/Cross-Cultural Appointments
- First-time appointments of female clergy
- Bishops can determine which cohorts they’d like to form, with the Candler Center for Christian Leadership providing structure and support.
- Facilitate learning cohorts across jurisdictional lines.
Pillar Three – Research-Based Initiatives
- Conduct research to spearhead new mission and ministry initiatives, focusing on highly effective transformational ministries (e.g., Project Transformation, Respite Care, One-Lamb Initiative for Mental Health and Addiction).
- Research to evaluate the effectiveness of On-Boarding programs (e.g., Barna studies), providing data that demonstrates the impact and need for specific ministries or areas of work.
- Utilize Candler students, who are available and eager to assist with research efforts.
On-Boarding Facilitator Certification
Two Main Goals of On-Boarding:
- Equip those receiving a new pastor with a deep understanding of who the pastor is as a leader and pastor.
- Ensure the pastor gains early insight into the church’s culture, future aspirations, and the challenges they are inheriting.
The Candler Center for Christian Leadership (CCCL) offers two certification sessions annually in Atlanta—one in the fall and one in the spring—for those seeking to become certified On-Boarding facilitators. Occasionally, a conference or group of conferences may choose to host a certification session, with CCCL staff traveling to their location to certify a group of clergy and laity. In all cases, a minimum of 20 candidates must be enrolled for a session to take place.
Once certified, individuals are equipped to facilitate On-Boarding sessions within their own annual conference and beyond. In some instances, General Agencies of The United Methodist Church and related organizations have requested facilitators for On-Boarding new staff members or board members.
For more information or questions, please contact Celeste Eubanks at cmeuban@emory.edu.
Team Building and Healing Models Certification
The Candler Center for Christian Leadership (CCCL) holds at least one certification session for this offering, either in the fall or spring. To qualify for this certification, participants must already be certified as On-Boarding facilitators.
Once certified, individuals can lead Team Building and Healing Models exercises within their own annual conference or beyond. In some cases, General Agencies of The United Methodist Church and related organizations may request the services of a certified facilitator to work with their staff or board.
For more information or questions, please contact Celeste Eubanks at cmeuban@emory.edu.
If you are a pastor, district superintendent, or other church leader seeking to be On-Boarded for a new appointment or assignment, please contact one of the following individuals in your Conference Office:
- Bishop
- Bishop’s Assistant
- District Superintendent
- Key Designated Conference Person *
- Staff Pastor Parish Relations Committee Chair
For more information or questions, please contact Celeste Eubanks at cmeuban@emory.edu.
*CCCL recommends that you reach out to this individual first if you know who they are in your Conference.
Individuals seeking certification as an On-Boarding facilitator or a Team Building and Healing Models facilitator must be endorsed and sponsored by their Bishop or a designated Key Conference Person. Once the endorsement and sponsorship are confirmed, an email should be sent to our office with the Bishop and other relevant parties copied. Upon receipt, the individual will receive further information regarding the next certification session.
For more information or questions, please contact Celeste Eubanks at cmeuban@emory.edu.
*Team Building and Healing Models certification is only open to those already certified as an On-Boarding facilitator.
Currently, CCCL focuses its work within The United Methodist Church. As the Center grows, we aim to expand our services to other denominations and organizations.
3Practice Circles
CCCL has partnered with the creators of 3Practices for Crossing the Difference Divide to bring this tool to The United Methodist Church. CCCL staff has conducted presentations on 3Practice Circles and has facilitated circles at various United Methodist gatherings.
Please see the resources below for more information on 3Practice Circles.
For more information on becoming a trained referee or for any other questions, please contact Celeste Eubanks at cmeuban@emory.edu.
Meet the CCCL Team
Claire Bowen
Senior Consultant
Claire Bowen comes to Candler as both a human resources professional from the corporate world and an active, lifelong United Methodist layperson.
Bowen started her work in The UMC by conducting seminars for incoming senior pastors of large membership churches, onboarding them to their new staffs and lay leaders. In 2016, she did the same for newly-elected and newly-assigned United Methodist bishops, facilitating onboarding sessions for them with their cabinets, conference staffs, lay leaders, and selected pastors in the conferences they were joining.
Bowen has expanded her work to include onboarding new district superintendents, new associates who join a church team, and new UMC leaders in colleges or agencies. Finally, she started certifying others to do this work; as of April 2024, 218 individuals have been trained as onboarding facilitators.
In addition, Bowen enjoys conducting staff development and team building sessions with church staffs, as well as coaching United Methodist pastors and bishops.
Prior to 2016, Bowen ran her own consulting firm, Claire Bowen and Company, after leaving a consortium she helped found called Team Leader Solutions. She was at First Atlanta Corporation for five years and served as the HR manager for the firm’s 1,500-person retail division until she moved to run First Atlanta’s Corporate Leadership Training School.
Bowen is a native of Statesboro, Georgia, and a graduate of the University of Georgia. She and her family attend Atlanta’s Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.
Celeste Eubanks
Director of the Candler Center for Christian Leadership
Prior to becoming director of the Candler Center for Christian Leadership (CCCL), Eubanks previously served in the Alabama-West Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church as director of leadership strategies and most recently as director of connectional ministries. She previously worked as a human resources manager for CPSI, a healthcare information systems company.
Eubanks is a deaconess in The United Methodist Church—committing her life to full-time vocation in ministries of love, justice, and service. Her role at the CCCL allows her to answer this call while putting her years of HR experience to use aiding conferences and local churches in developing best business and HR practices. She has been a certified onboarding facilitator with The United Methodist Church since 2019 and has onboarded pastors, bishops, and other leaders throughout the connection.
A lifelong Methodist, Eubanks has held several leadership roles in The United Methodist Church, which include serving as a delegate to the 2020 General Conference (to be held in 2024), as well as being a member of the Alabama-West Florida Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, the Southeastern Jurisdiction (SEJ) Committee on Appeals, and the SEJ Conference Secretarial Staff. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Wespath Benefits and Investments.
Eubanks received her Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Southern Mississippi and her Master of Arts in communication and leadership studies from Gonzaga University. A native of Slidell, Louisiana, she currently resides in Atlanta.
David Graves
Advising Bishop to CCCL
Bishop David Graves previously served as the episcopal leader of the Alabama-West Florida and South Georgia Episcopal Areas of The United Methodist Church. He is now the resident bishop of the Kentucky and Tennessee Episcopal Areas which includes the Kentucky Conference, Central Appalachian Missionary Conference, and the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference.
As a pastor, Graves led a small-membership church to become a medium-sized congregation and later a medium-sized church to become a large-membership congregation. He has a heart and hands for missions and has led several short-term (local, national, and international) mission teams. The Acts 1:8 model for missions came alive in the churches he has served. These churches raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for mission work, plus trained laity in hands-on ministry.
As a district superintendent, Graves implemented a district strategy that empowered both clergy and laity with leadership tools for effective and vital ministry. This strategy revitalized several churches that experienced growth in worship attendance and membership; Sunday School and small group discipleship; missional giving and professions of faith.
Prior to being elected a bishop in 2016, Graves served as the senior pastor of Church Street United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Before that, he served six years as the district superintendent for the Kingsport District of the Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church. In 2011 and 2012, he served as dean of the cabinet. He has been an ordained pastor in The United Methodist Church for over 32 years and previously served as senior pastor of Ooltewah United Methodist Church, a large-membership church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for 11 years. Prior to this, he served as pastor of two Kingsport-area churches, St. Matthew and Mountain View United Methodist. He was on staff and was given his first appointment at Hixson United Methodist Church in the Chattanooga area, where he served for 11 years.
Graves is a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and from Candler School of Theology with a Master of Divinity.