Big changes announced for Church Leadership Connection

In late January, staff in the Office of Call Process Support announced that a number of changes and updates had been rolled out on the Church Leadership Connection (CLC) website. The changes range from bug fixes to the addition of sorting filters and compatibility indicators. Staff hope these new changes further enhance the experience of churches, mid councils and call-seekers.

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Church Leadership Connection is an online database and matching system for the PC(USA) in which churches, mid councils, and other ministries upload Ministry Discernment Profiles and clergy and other church workers upload Personal Discernment Profiles. These profiles are searchable according to various criteria including location, position type, salary range, experience level and more. MDPs and PDPs are also matched with one another when they share major criteria in common.

The first online Church Leadership Connection database was launched in the late 1990s, and an entirely redesigned CLC was unveiled in 2023. There have been several rollouts of updates and new features since then.

For the most recent update, a comprehensive list of the changes was sent to all users currently listed as active in the database, and included more than two dozen fixes and additions.

Eva Rebozo, who serves as a bilingual CLC consultant, highlighted several changes she was particularly excited about. She noted that the overall appearance of matching lists has been updated to include numbering for easy reference, among other things. They also added several different options to sort and filter matches: date matched, compatibility score, experience level, status and PDP identification number.

Another major change is the relocation and renaming of the Compatibility Survey,  previously known as the Competency Survey, which is now filled out by congregations directly within the MDP. This replaces the previous system of prioritizing certain competencies. Both call seekers and ministries looking to call someone fill out a compatibility survey indicating how important certain values and qualities are to them.

Their specific responses are not published, nor are matches ranked according to a numerical compatibility score. However, the match list now indicates general level of compatibility by color, with green for highest compatibility, yellow for average compatibility, and red for lowest compatibility.

It’s important to note that compatibility score is not one of the data points used to match profiles or prevent profiles from matching one another. A given PDP or MDP will be matched with every profile that aligns according to position type, employment status (full or part time), salary and location. The compatibility score is provided as additional data to compare matches.

The new update also added options to the Opportunity Search page, such as church size, geographic setting, housing type, and whether or not it is a multicultural and intercultural ministry. In addition, search committees can now report a call and remove their listing if they find a candidate externally. Previously, search committees had to contact the site administrators to have that done.

On the back end, Rebozo said, the recent update gives them more flexibility and access to tailor profiles and searches to fit the unique needs of individual ministries. This will allow the CLC team to be more responsive to feedback and to create a more personalized experience.

When the new CLC launched in 2023, it was met with some frustration from users who found it challenging. Rebozo said that, in her own experience, many of the complaints she heard were resolved once folks were trained in how to use the site.

Still, she hopes that the most recent updates leave users feeling more satisfied with the site. Rebozo said these changes were a combination of pre-planned upgrades and response to user needs and feedback. Since the initial launch of the new site, an update has been released every three to four months with new features and fixes. There are two more planned to roll out in the coming year.

When asked what advice she had for users, Rebozo encouraged anyone who has questions, feedback or who needs help to reach out. She mentioned that the Call Support team leads trainings regularly and is always available to provide training for anyone interested — be it an individual call seeker, a church, presbytery, seminary or otherwise.

“It’s an open tool,” she said. “It’s intended to be accessible to everyone. I can provide support in both English and Spanish. We have someone who provides support in Korean. We want everybody to use it and contact us if you need to.”

CLC consultants are available by email, at clcsupport@pcusa.org, and by phone at (844) 984-2440.