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Pastors operate in highly complex social systems, and even with formal authority may not feel empowered to lead change. The key to building their sense of agency is to build trust among stakeholders and cultivate habits of care.
Like runners, ministers benefit when they learn healthy habits that allow them to pause and experience restoration from concerns and fatigue and be refilled by the spirit of God. Bigstock/Dean Drobot
Theological training doesn’t offer ministers everything they need to flourish. Pastoral peer groups that develop additional competencies can fill the gap, writes a minister who is director of ministry outreach at Pepperdine University.
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To acquire the resilience necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing world, pastors need people, practices and purpose, says the director of the Resilient Leaders Project.
Composite illustration by Catherine A. Caimano / SmartMockups
An Episcopal “clergypreneur” innovates a new model of pastoral care in which congregations run their own churches and contract with her for services such as worship, Christian education and leadership formation.
The Rev. Justin Mathews works the serving line at Thelma's Kitchen, a cafe operated by Reconciliation Services.
Photos by Susan Pfannmuller
In a neighborhood long marked by the trauma of racism and poverty, Reconciliation Services is building community with an entrepreneurial but distinctly Orthodox Christian approach to mission.
Worship can be a powerful way to engage conflict, as participants discovered at this 2018 Colossian Forum event on political division.
Photo courtesy of The Colossian Forum
In a time of intense polarization, both inside and outside the church, Christians are called not to run from conflict but to engage it, drawing upon ancient practices of the faith, says the president of The Colossian Forum.
Photo by Malerapaso
Leading a congregation into the future requires understanding its story -- and helping it envision what new chapters might come next.
Julia Perez, (right) at a news conference held by Durham, North Carolina, city leaders to update the community about her husband, Samuel Oliver-Bruno, who was arrested and deported to Mexico in November. Photos by Justin Cook
After witnessing the arrest of his friend and student Samuel Oliver-Bruno, a pastor learns that he can’t be all things to all people but must instead honestly share his grief and fear for his undocumented friends.
It's in shops and streets and other unexpected places where God’s transforming "meant to be" experiences happen. iStock / Torresigner
As pastors, don’t leave the power of “God moments” entirely to chance. Help make them happen. Ask yourselves, “Where am I ‘meant to be’ this week?”
Redeemer Lutheran's annual block party is one of the many ways the church reaches out to the Harrison neighborhood in North Minneapolis. Photos courtesy of Redeemer Lutheran Church
Viewing the congregation as more than the Sunday faithful, Redeemer Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis has been ‘a beacon of hope’ for nearby residents, with its focus on service to the neighborhood.