What to do if your ship is sinking
Over 100 years ago, Ernest Shackleton embarked on an expedition to cross the Antarctic continent. He never made landfall, but what could have been a disaster became a leadership triumph. We're not on a life-threatening exploration gone wrong. However, church leaders face real challenges now and going forward. Following Shackleton's example can help you navigate the challenges ahead with clarity and grace.
We don’t talk about burnout: Family systems lessons for the church from Disney’s “Encanto”
Understanding family systems theory helps us to self-differentiate and remember that we are important and valued for who we are as people, as children of God. While we have different skills and gifts for ministry, the burden should not be solely on our clergy or on one group of leaders.
It’s OK to not be OK
Churches can be a vital force for their community’s mental health by gathering community, lifting up others in prayer, and creating safe spaces where access to community support is not predicated on falsely claiming that everything is fine.
Substitute pastor
Karl Barth famously said: "Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible." I'd suggest that the newspaper can stand in for many activities that broaden our awareness of the world. We can read a newspaper, yes. But we can also go to the mall and interview people, or put up a table at the farmer's market, or, as I have, sign up to substitute teach.
What Yom Hashoah teaches about the nature of forgiveness and forgetting
Yom Hashoah is not called a Day of Forgetting but a Day of Remembrance. The evil committed is remembered, not just out of the pain, but so that it can never happen again.