The Christian Century

Congregations billed as "teaching congregations" are plentiful these days. Many evangelical churches advertise their teaching role and support seminaries of their own. A number of mainline congregations host "transition into ministry" programs for seminary graduates. But a self-conscious "teaching church" with only 100 members?

"Calypso Presbyterian is a teaching church for sure," affirms Lewis Galloway, senior pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. Galloway, who directs a pastoral residency program of his own, served in Calypso, North Carolina, 30 years ago. He found Calypso Presbyterian to be a place where members feel free to guide rookie pastors "gently, always gent­ly, in better directions," and where the members are also eager to grow and learn.