MINISTRY IN MOTION
Discovering, creating, and incubating community collaborations that address pervasive social challenges.MINISTRY IN MOTION
Discovering, creating, and incubating community collaborations that address pervasive social challenges.
OUR PARTNERS
OUR INITIATIVES
Smith-King Program
Together with The Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University and J. Alfred Smith, Sr., we are expanding Dr. King’s passionate ministry of peace to solve community challenges.
Spahr Reconciliation
With the creation of the Jane Adams Spahr Reconciling Church Project, we are creating a more diverse and inclusive Presbyterian Church (USA). All are welcome.
This We Affirm
In partnership with Rev. Eric Elnes and the Convergence Network, we are creating an open collaboration based on the Phoenix Affirmations to breathe new life and relevance in congregations across the U.S.
UPCOMING EVENTS
October 24
On Campus Seminar
Creating a Culture of Generosity
November 19
Floyd Thompkins Speaking Event
Marin Lutheran Church
TBD
Shifts Happen Lectures
Restoring Justice: Creative Leadership in Addressing Policing
STAY CONNECTED
GET INVOLVED
Shifts Happen Lectures
We are constantly bringing together some of the brightest innovators to inspire, equip and connect you with like minded leaders. Check out our Events page to register for upcoming activities, including our free Shifts Happen lectures, a lecture and discussion series featuring leading scholars and activists.
Online Collaborative Seminars
Our Collaborative Seminars are a unique combination of academic coursework, on the ground activism, and cohort based dialogue that will help you foster justice, peace and thriving community in your local context. Plus, to make the seminars available to leaders around the world, we offer all of them in an interactive online format.
Community Blog
Our community blog, A Fabulous Place, seeks to bring together those who feel marginalized, but refuse to be bullied. It is a forum where LGBTQ individuals, people of color, immigrant communities, women, those with differing levels of ability and countless others who have been targeted by hateful rhetoric, action and policy can resist through written and spoken word, art and music.
LATEST NEWS
Marin Independent Journal Highlights Project Trust
Above: Rev. Dr. D. Mark Wilson, a principle team member for Project Trust, leads a community workshop. The Marin Independent Journal recently highlighted Project Trust, the Center's partnership with Kaiser Permanente to study and close the gap between spiritual...
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New Site “This We Affirm” Launches
The Center for Innovation in Ministry at San Francisco Theological Seminary is excited to announce the launch of This We Affirm. Formerly the Living Lectionary, This We Affirm is a crowd-sourced online resource hub for progressive Christians. Organized around The...
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In Response to Charlottesville Terrorism, We Call for Collaboration for Justice
Above: Members of the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries in Charlottesville gather for a moment of motivation, a moment of prayer, and a moment of encouragement for people who wanted to provide faithful witness of love anticipating Saturday’s march. Rev. Traci...
read moreABOUT THE CENTER FOR INNOVATION IN MINISTRY AT SFTS
The Center for Innovation in Ministry is an expression of San Francisco Theological Seminary’s commitment to remain on the growing edge of the ever-changing spiritual, social and economic challenges facing society.
We seek to stimulate collaborations and ignite positive breakthroughs. We link up individual innovators and partner with congregations, educational organizations, and groups seeking to act positively in the world. Together we create, discover, incubate and disseminate effective responses to our common challenges.
People of goodwill everywhere can engage through partnerships, online courses, on-campus and off-campus seminars, and various social media platforms to find the deep wisdom that can make the world a better place for us all.
Rev. Floyd Thompkins
Director of The Center for Innovation in Ministry at SFTS
Floyd Thompkins is an extraordinary communicator, and his dynamic leadership is marked by his gift for connecting to all people. He is particularly skilled at facilitating sensitive real-world subject material, implementing meaningful and relevant community initiatives to make a positive difference. His ministry is one of ethical and compassionate action.
Rev. Thompkins served as a dean and chaplain at two world-class institutions, Stanford and Princeton universities. He developed unique, highly effective programs to empower underserved teenage youth and young adults in urban and rural areas—in East Palo Alto, CA and rural South Georgia. He led Antioch Baptist Church, the oldest African American Church in San Jose, CA, and was the Education and Administrative Pastor of Covenant Christian Church in Douglas, GA.
As Associate Dean of Memorial Church at Stanford University, Rev. Thompkins founded Black Church, the largest multi-cultural religious gathering on the Stanford campus. He also implemented a special freshman support system still being used as a base academic support program. In Georgia, he was executive director of the Bower Fund and with Youth Empowerment Today, organizations dedicated to mentoring at-risk youth through middle school, high school, and into college. He is a curriculum writer and a published author with several books to his credit.
His awards include the Presidential Award for Community Service from President Bill Clinton, The Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Edward G. Howel Preaching Award from Princeton Theological Seminary.
