When friends become family
Beyond friends, more than community, they will know us by our love for one another. A writer reflects on the bonds that bring people together, whether in youth groups, hospital rooms or birthday parties.
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Emotional health
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Kevin Hood Gary: Bored? Don’t avoid that feeling. Engage it
Most people respond to boredom by either avoiding it — hello, smartphone! — or resigning themselves to it. But what if we dealt with boredom by transforming it into a different state of mind?
Sharing good news about our ministries makes a difference
Ministries of kindness and positive actions are uplifting — and so are the stories we tell about them, says a communications specialist at Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
Link to author Emily Lund
By
Emily Lund
Director of Communications, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity
Hurting and healing: What my church did after a mass shooting
After the recent tragedy at Michigan State University, a nearby congregation moved quickly and strategically to contact faculty, staff and students, provide comfort dogs to the grieving, and gather and pray, writes the pastor.
Link to author A. Trevor Sutton
By
A. Trevor Sutton
Pastor and writer
Why leaders need holy friendships
Personal sustainability requires sacred relationships formed in God’s love. A managing director of grants for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity writes about what makes these friendships vital in this adapted excerpt from her new book.
Link to author Victoria Atkinson White
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Victoria Atkinson White
Director of Grants, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity
Lent is a time to rest in God’s unrelenting love
Language that stresses humanity’s distance from God can be deeply hurtful. I prefer to dwell on our belovedness and God’s unwavering maternal heart, writes an author.
Link to author Jean Neely
By
Jean Neely
Scholar and writer
A blessing for those who minister
In a culture of effortless perfection, Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie are determined to tell the truth: life is beautiful and hard. In their new book, “The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days,” they offer blessings for joys and struggles and plain, ordinary days. And because Christian leaders are human too, they share here a special blessing for those who minister.
Kate Bowler
Jessica Richie
Could spiritual practices help young adults struggling with violence?
This first generation to come of age in the spiritual-but-not-religious era also is the first generation to deal regularly with mass violence. Could soulful practices help young adults process grief and fear? asks an author.
Link to author Dori Baker
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Dori Baker
Author and consultant
Antidotes to compassion fatigue
A group of researchers found that feeling God’s presence was key to pastors’ avoiding exhaustion in the pandemic.
Ed de St. Aubin
Jessica Krukowski
Matthew Evans
Our grief doesn’t stop during Advent
The shepherds’ story within the greater nativity offers wisdom for those mourning a loss during Christmas, a pastor writes.
Link to author Kalina Carlson
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Kalina Carlson
Associate pastor and entrepreneur
‘I Wish My Dad: The Power of Vulnerable Conversations Between Fathers and Sons’
In this adapted excerpt from his recent book, a writer and divinity school graduate offers suggestions for healthier relationships based on dozens of interviews with men about their fathers.
Link to author Romal Tune
By
Romal Tune
Author
