Michelle Just, president and CEO at Beatitudes Campus in Phoenix, recently was consecrated as a Diakonal Minister by the Council for Health and Human Services Ministries (CHHSM) of the United Church of Christ.
The designation was bestowed upon Just after she completed a year-long leadership program focusing on connecting professional excellence with faith-based purpose. The consecration ceremony was held at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Paradise Valley on Dec. 10.
“I am honored to earn the designation of a Diakonal Minister,” says Just. “This program emphasizes the servant leadership that is the foundation of Beatitudes Campus.”
The curriculum for this distinction is administered by the CHHSM Nollau Leadership Institute, a Cleveland-based organization related to the United Church of Christ (UCC). Beatitudes Campus is a ministry of the United Church of Christ, and founded fifty years ago by Church of the Beatitudes.
CHHSM’s Nollau Leadership Institute is a yearlong program that creates opportunities for small groups of leaders to gather in person and online to learn and mentor one another as they explore how to lead faith-based health and human services organizations. Participants come together with a variety of faith traditions and occupational backgrounds.
Six Beatitudes Campus staff members are now Diakonal Ministers.
Founded in 1964, Beatitudes Campus is a faith-based not-for-profit continuing care retirement community offering a wide spectrum of services for older people including independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, memory support and home care services. Beatitudes Campus is a center of excellence and a leader in the field of aging services. The campus offers a model of wellness that promotes soundness of mind, spirit and body.