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Reframing the pastoral sabbatical as a journey for the entire congregation can diminish resentment and help make regular periods of renewal a part of the Christian life, writes the director of the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs.
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The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was never a solitary, mythical figure during the civil rights movement, and people involved in the struggle today should not look for such a leader. Instead, we should look for the leader within and the leaders all around us, who emerge from the ground up, says the dean of the faculty at Christian Theological Seminary.
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After years of looking for his one true vocation, a seminary professor of Christian spirituality considers an alternative picture of vocation. What if it’s not a single star we should follow but a constellation?
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Yes, it would be fun to be trained by Yoda on the planet Dagobah. But it’s the less eccentric elements of humility, vulnerability, honesty and wisdom that make for a fruitful mentoring relationship, writes a young pastor.
Many Christians, if they think about vocation at all, think of calling in terms of young adults. Our churches, schools and campus ministries must embrace a lifelong understanding of vocation and equip their members to engage in the practices of discernment, the professor of practical theology writes in a new book.
The author's prayer beads are crafted out of blue stone beads from New Hampshire, a Russian bead from a friend and beads from one of her mother’s old necklaces. Photo by Jessamyn Rubio
Praying with beads provides a steady discipline -- a shape and a frequency for a life of prayer -- and a tangible tool that fixes our attention in a world of so many distractions, writes a managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
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A pastor re-envisions his primary vocation not as a preacher, teacher, healer or administrator but as a host, a “convener.” It wasn’t what seminary prepared him for, but it’s a high and holy calling.
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Jesus Christ the Liberator confronts violence, and following Christ means we must go and do likewise, writes the director of Duke Youth Academy.
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Christians are called to be busy -- but not in the way that busy Christian leaders might want to believe. The Christian way to be busy is not busyness but business, says the psychiatrist and theologian.
The Rev. Patrice L. Fowler-Searcy answers the phone in her office at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Photo by Alexander Catedral
A pastor who has served church and community for more than 20 years in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood shares what she has learned about sustaining a ministry of community development.