Emotions are not our faith. Our faith is our faith. Yet, emotions are powerful forces in faith communities, especially in one whose primary metaphor is “body.” We are at our best when we are one body, the body of Christ,…
‘Yes, and’: A response to stories of pastoral angst in the present moment
How many articles and blog posts have come across your computer screen recently describing the angst of pastoral leaders? It seems nearly every author, blogger, denominational minister, coach, consultant and anyone else who serves alongside pastors and church staff persons…
May your church find its soul
It is not the church of God that has a mission, it is the God of mission that has a church. — Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury This is what the missional church movement is about: refocusing us on…
Life balance for clergy remixed
Life balance is important and necessary for sustained ministry over time, but there are some things that life balance is not.
EI: The hidden ingredient in pastoral leadership
By Mark Tidsworth When I worked as a therapist, my caseload eventually became crowded with clergy and church staff. After we worked through their clinical issues, many continued in counseling, addressing concerns related to their ministry. I had the sense…
‘Collective intelligence’ in ministry
By Mark Tidworth Management researchers and social scientists are confirming what many of us intuitively know (and chafe against it at times): people make better decisions together than they do apart. A new phrase describes this experience of “putting our…
Life balance for clergy remixed
By Mark Tidsworth “The ordained person can then come to realize that his or her first vocation is to be a human being,” observe Donald Hands and Wayne Fehr in Spiritual Wholeness for Clergy. By now, we all know living…
New Springsteen album delivers 30-year-old ‘Promise’
By Mark McEntire While Wrecking Ball is Bruce Springsteen’s 17th and latest studio album, it marks some important firsts. Above all, it is Springsteen’s first studio album since the deathof band mate Clarence Clemons. The “Big Man” was such a…