About
A safe place to reflect, reimagine, and grow
Willow Haven brings research and pastoral care into the same room, so leaders can see the big picture and take the next practical step.
Founder and coach
Rev. Dr. Michael W. Droege, PhD
Michael is a practical theologian and ICF-trained coach with more than thirty years of experience as a congregational pastor, youth ministry leader, university lecturer, and consultant to communities across traditions and cultures. His work weaves together theology, sociology, psychology, and educational theory to help people and organizations thrive across generations.
He teaches Practical Theology and Religious Education at Drew Theological School, serves as Interim Director of the Intergenerational Ministry Diploma Program at the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, and is a Research Associate with the Conectere project at Eastern Mennonite University. From 2024 to 2026 he was a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale Divinity School. He is also the founder of Innovations Leadership Inc., a nonprofit that forms leaders for inclusive communities.
“I created The Willow Haven Project because leaders and congregations deserve a safe place to reflect, reimagine, and grow.”
Why Willow Haven exists
Good research rarely reaches the people who need it
Michael kept seeing the same gap: leaders and communities with a real calling, and a body of research that could help them, separated by time, cost, and access. Willow Haven exists to close that gap by listening first and then partnering with people as they discover what they are called to do next.
The conviction underneath it all is simple. Belonging and human thriving are the goal. Faith, at its best, draws people together and turns them toward love, and that is the spirit Willow Haven brings to every client, whatever they believe.
Credentials
- PhD in Practical Theology, University of Pretoria (2024)
- MAR, Drew University
- ICF-trained coach
- 15 years of congregational coaching and workshops
- Seminary instructor and researcher
Research
Attachment, belonging, and formation
Michael's scholarship centers on attachment theory, intergenerational formation, and adolescent identity. His doctoral thesis, Inclusivity in Youth Ministry Praxis and the Challenge of Mainline Church Attrition, examined what helps young people stay connected to the communities that formed them.
He developed Constitutive Belonging, a framework for understanding how communities form secure, lasting connection.
Framework
WARM
A practice for communities that want people to feel they truly belong.
Kind words
What partners say
Being coached by Michael Droege is like apprenticing to a great chef. You know that you will be growing through the very power of the coaching relationship itself. Vibrant Faith was the recipient of three years of Michael's coaching gifts on behalf of 4 churches in our Thriving Congregations Project. We found Michael's work with his churches to be innately compassionate yet deeply fruitful for the churches he accompanied. He aided them in digging under the obvious roadblocks to find new ways of thinking and being.
Michael knows church life and he knows church leaders. Over my 50 years of church ministry I have been privileged to work with a small number people that I trust to always provide the best service for a church and its leaders. Michael is one of those people. This is the highest recommendation I can give.
Let's talk
Tell me about your season. The first conversation is free.