Onboarding – Foundry Collaborative

Pastoral/Ministry Leader Onboarding

Foundry Collaborative offers comprehensive onboarding support to ensure a strong start for pastors and ministry leaders. Our proven process helps churches, leadership teams, and pastors build trust, clarity, and momentum from the very first day. Our trained onboarding facilitators will support and guide your new pastor/ministry leader through an experience where they learn more about their new context, but more importantly, their new congregation comes to learn them quickly too!

Standard Onboarding Package includes:

Individual Discovery Calls with the Pastor/Ministry Leader and Staff-Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) Chairperson (45 minute video/phone call)
Customized onboarding day coordination with the church’s on-site logistics coordinator
Onboarding communication templates and resource documents for the pastor/ministry leader and church to use to explain and promote the onboarding event
Onboarding sessions for church staff and lay leadership/stakeholders (staff session when appropriate)
Post-onboarding follow-up summary call with the Pastor/Ministry and District Superintendent/Presiding Elder/Senior Pastor (we want to tell someone how amazing it went for you!)
Follow-Up Survey with church staff and/or lay leadership after 3 months of the new pastor/ministry leader’s onboarding
Three-month follow-up calls with both the Pastor/Ministry Leader and SPRC Chairperson (30 minute video/call) or on-site presentation to full SPRC (additional travel charge may apply; see travel policy below)

Pricing

Weekly Attendance	Standard Rate	North Alabama UMC Discount Rate
Fewer than 150	$400	$320
150–250	$500	$400
251–450	$750	$600
451–650	$1,000	$800
651+	$1,500	$1,200

Pricing based on average weekly attendance.
United Methodist Congregations in North Alabama automatically receive a 20% discount on onboarding services.

Travel Policy: If the onboarding site is more than 75 miles from Birmingham, AL, overnight accommodations must be provided for lay leadership session.

Payment Terms: 25% deposit at booking; 75% due upon completion of onboarding day experience.

A Note about Pricing: We know how it goes… ministry budgets don’t exactly come with a “miscellaneous miracles” line item. At Foundry, our goal is to help churches and nonprofits do meaningful work with clarity, care, and systems that actually make sense. If the pricing above gives you pause (or heartburn), reach out. We’ve built and are actively working in and trying to survive in church budgets ourselves, so we get it! We’re more interested in helping you move forward than holding you back. Let’s talk and see what’s possible.

I can't imagine not having this process in the future. It feels like it helped us skip past the "pleasantries" and walking on eggshells with a new person. We immediately were able to get to the nitty-gritty to build trust and do it *together*. We've been through a lot as a staff and it felt very healing to share vulnerably in the same space together. That felt very important, I felt like it further strengthened our bond as a staff. It was incredibly helpful to speak to someone that was removed enough from our situation for us to feel comfortable being 100% honest, yet he also understood the dynamics of church work to empathize with our grief and frustration. I felt very "seen".

Katherine Mullen
Minister of Community Engagement, First Church Birmingham

The concept of "on-boarding" was foreign to our rural, small-town church. By placing us in groups, some of our quieter members were guaranteed a chance to make their voices heard. No one member was more important or vocal than the group as a whole. David kept the conversations moving, and didn't let us dwell on anything too long. I believe we stepped out in faith and a bit of curiosity - maybe that combination will work for other rural congregations! I say DO IT!

Twilia Richardson
Staff-Parish Relations Committee Chairperson, Long Memorial United Methodist Church

"This process will allow us to get a great start to our ministry with a new pastor. He understands more about us and we learned more about him. We jumped ahead two months by doing this onboarding. We can immediately start planning and implementing the new ideas that were discussed. I could tell that our staff and lay leadership were energized after their sessions."

Connie Thompson
Church Program Coordinator, Jacksonville First United Methodist Church

"This was not another "church thing." It felt real and authentic with no cheese! I thought it was helpful and would recommend."

Onboarding Participant
Church Staff Member

It was a very comfortable process. Just go for it!

Jack Mundy
Staff-Parish Relations Committee Chairperson, Columbiana UMC

Executive Coaching (Optional Add-On)

For onboarding clients seeking additional leadership support, Foundry Collaborative offers optional executive coaching packages to guide pastors through their first year.

Coaching Add-on Packages:

Package	Description	Price & Payment
Quarterly Commitment	3 months of coaching: 1 scheduled 1-hour call per month + up to 2 total additional consultation hours available per month; unlimited email consultations	$500/quarter
Annual Commitment	12 months of coaching: 1 scheduled 1-hour call per month + up to 3 total additional consultation hours available per month; unlimited email consultations	$437.50/quarter (total $1,750/year)

Note: Executive Coaching add-on is available only to onboarding clients and must be selected within 60 days of completing the onboarding event. No discounts apply to coaching packages, but our same note about pricing above does!

Let's forge a strong beginning, together.

Whether you’re navigating a planned transition, filling a sudden gap, or recalibrating for the season ahead—every shift is a chance to lead with clarity and care. We walk alongside you through the whole process, helping you build trust, set culture, and start strong.

Ready to get started? Just want to find out more? Click below and let’s talk about how we can partner to make this transition a faithful one.

Foundry Collaborative, LLC

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