Education
B.S. Bridgewater State College, M.R.E. Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Ph.D. Trinity International University
meri.macLeod@westernsem.edu
Courses
CM120 Leading Christian Communities
CM523 Leading Change in Ministries and Congregations
CM525 Ministry in a Postmodern World
The church today finds itself situated within a time of great cultural transition. Engaging a diverse and complex culture meaningfully, compassionately, and courageously is one of the enormous and exciting challenges facing the church and all congregational leaders. My passion is to engage seminarians and congregational leaders in learning new ways of being the church and creating adaptive cultures that are both theologically rooted and culturally responsive. Fostering adaptive congregational cultures presents both challenge and great opportunity in the turbulent social context of the emerging 21st Century.
Background
Dr. MacLeod has served on the staff of three congregations, an urban/suburban transitional congregation, a large multi-staff, suburban congregation of several thousand both in the Boston area, and a new church plant in Phoenix. In each church Meri led the congregation into new ministries, instituted new programs and created new leadership development practices. In addition, she has led university campus ministries on two state universities and expanded the work into graduate and international student groups. She pioneered a new collaborative-style partnership ministry between congregations and a national parachurch organization providing new ministry resources, consulting and leadership development. The congregational training and resources were developed out of a national research study she designed and conducted while pursuing her doctorate. She has published an interactive Bible Study series designed for a postmodern culture and is a co-author of a discipleship handbook. She is a frequent speaker and trainer and serves on the Board and Executive Committee of Presbyterians for Renewal. Meri has been an Assistant Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, the Dean of an adult education program in a Christian university and is currently Special Doctoral Faculty at Colorado State University where she is mentoring a PhD candidate in qualitative research.
At Western, Dr. MacLeod is the Director of Distance Learning, where she oversees the new distance learning Master of Divinity program. She is also Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and teaches in the area of congregational change and postmodern culture.