Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 1:51 PM
In Partnership-Moment- May 6, 2009
It is truly amazing to me how very many good web resources there are!
Recently, in seeking more information on a particular request that came across my desk, I found my way to the Lewis Center for Church Leadership affiliated with the Wesley Theological Seminary.
You can find your way to this great resource at: www.churchleadership.com
I’d love to recommend you start with a great resource called 50 Ways to Communicate.
1. 50 Ways to Communicate Effectively –
is a guideline for general information about communication and church leadership. The first tip under the heading View communications as a ministry is this –Understand that church communications is about formation not just information. With 49 additional tips that follow, this simple yet accessible document contains great tips and a bibliographic citation is contained at the end of the document.
2. Other 50 Ways lists include:
50 Ways to Build Strength Caring for Youth and
50 Ways to Build Strength Caring for Children
A great resource for youth teams, church staff, Christian Education committees or boards and others! Check these out today!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 1:20 PM
Kirk Byron Jones D. Min., PH.D., was a pastor for twenty years. He teaches social ethics and pastoral ministry at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Center, MA. He is the author of Addicted to Hurry, spiritual strategies for slowing down, Rest in the Storm: Self-Care strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers and Holy Play. He was the keynote speaker and shared a three-part address with pastors, educators and lay youth-workers at the recent NEAUCE gathering.
If you weren’t able to be with us, I hope that these notes from his remarks will intrigue you and that you'll want to speak with someone who was there or read one of his books. His comments were provocative and timely -an invitation to all with a ministry in the church to find a rhythm and balance for our life and work that allows for moments of “sanctified pause” and enables those in ministry to work from a place of being filled –full of energy, grace possibility rather than in the place of empty –of the exhaustion and fatigue that many in ministry regularly experience. He exhorts us to stop equating busyness and speed with efficiency and productivity. He further comments that we need to develop a heightened awareness of “being sick and tired of being sick and tired”.
He suggests that as a way of finding spiritual balance one might find a new spiritual discipline in which to rest and find renewal, one might find renewed meaning in the ordinary tasks of the day as a place of resting in the presence of God or one might discover “holy play” is the perfect way to new creativity and a revitalized imagination. He reminds us that there is no shame in resting for the sake of rest and that to do nothing with intention is equally important as the work that we all are called to.
Whatever you choose as “sanctified pause”, Rev. Dr. Jones is convinced that there is power for us as people of faith, as ministers, educators and caregivers in finding a place –a way- of strategic with-drawl, and going to that place with regularity, just as Jesus modeled for us, is imperative to our wholeness, our health and well-being. (Mt. 13:1, Lk. 5:1, Jn. 4:6, Mk. 4: 37-39.) He reminds us that there are images in the scriptures of opportunities Jesus took for a strategic with-drawl as a necessary practice for resting, renewing and revitalizing himself for his ministry. He reminds us that Jesus never meant for the yoke/burdens of ministry to be heavy, but light. The question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Can I handle living with a lighter load?’ Can I come to the place in the rhythm of my life and work where I can experience “God’s mad love for me”? Can I come with the same intentionality to a place of “sweetest pause, where I experience invigoration and a releasing of everything in order to empty myself to be filled?” Can I, as Mary Oliver says in Thirst, …“lounge on the grass and lie back until I am inside the cloud”…?
Whatever stillness we can find in the midst of our life and work, whatever moments we can find to entertain new truths and be overcome with God’s deep, lavish, unconditional acceptance and love we will discover as Kirk Jones says, “it ain’t in the race, it’s in the grace!”
His book, Addicted to Hurry, spiritual strategies for slowing down, can be found in the Ruth Dudley Resource Center at the CT. Conference House.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 1:00 PM
An important word for those in local church ministry!
Kirk Byron Jones D. Min., PH.D., was a pastor for twenty years. He teaches social ethics and pastoral ministry at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Center, MA. He is the author of Addicted to Hurry, spiritual strategies for slowing down, Rest in the Storm: Self-Care strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers and Holy Play. He was the keynote speaker at the recent NEAUCE gathering and shared a three-part address with pastors, educators and lay youth-workers who gathered this year at Craigville Retreat Center in Centerville, MA. If you were unable to be with us, we missed you! If you were there, perhaps my musings will jog your memory and reiterate the importance of this year’s message to us all. (If you weren’t able to be with us, notes from Rev. Dr. Jones remarks are available on my blog at CT. UCC.)
His comments were provocative and timely as an invitation to all with a ministry in a local church to find a rhythm and balance for our life and work that allows for moments of “sanctified pause”! It is precisely these moments, Kirk Jones reminds us, that enable those in ministry to work from a place of being filled –full of energy, grace, possibility rather than from the place of empty –of the exhaustion and fatigue that many in ministry regularly experience.
So this week, as I share information about two new resources here at the RDRC (Ruth Dudley Resource Center), I pray that each of you- pastors, teachers, mentors, educators, and youth workers, will find time in the days and weeks ahead to incorporate a “sanctified pause” into your life and ministry and that the power of being filled –of regular renewal, will enable you to find even greater joy and fulfillment in the purposeful ministries in which you are engaged.
New Resources at the RDRC-
practicing discernment with youth-a transformative youth ministry approach by david f. white Pilgrim Press, 2005
from the jacket: “In this resource White calls for congregations to engage their own young people in practices of discernment that involve the gifts and problems of their own unique context, bringing their lives more fully into partnership with God’s work in their particular place.”
Sleeping with Bread-Holding What Gives You Life by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Matthew Linn Paulist Press 1995
from the jacket: “This book is about asking ourselves two questions: ‘For what am I most grateful?’, ‘For what am I least grateful?’, we call this process the examen. For centuries, faithful people have found direction for their days and their lives by identifying these moments of consolation and desolation. We hope the examen will enrich your lives and your relationships as much as it has ours.”
Thursday, April 23, 2009, 4:34 PM
Thursday, April 23, 2009, 4:33 PM
Hello!
My prayer for all of you this week is that things are “blossoming” in your gardens and in your ministries. It is this season that brings hope, seeds and bulbs long ago planted fulfill their promise! It is the same with the work you all do on a daily basis. You’re a mighty group of gardeners!
In Partnership Moment- April 22, 2009
My update this week brings a reminder of the goodness of Children’s Literature. Whether you are using a classic such as The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein to share the Christian concepts of selfless love and sacrificial giving or The Velveteen Rabbit with a Confirmation class, good children’s literature-classic and contemporary- holds a timeless appeal for children and youth of all ages...most everyone likes to be read to!
One of my favorite youth fellowship gatherings was an evening of sharing favorite children’s stories and why we love them. Youth were invited to come in their PJ’s (appropriate attire of course) and bring a favorite story from their childhood. Students take turns reading their stories and sharing what they loved about them. Sitting in beanbag chairs and serving hot chocolate helps to create a cozy environment. Our group loved it!
So – What books have great messages? How can you use them? Here are three suggestions from our collection at the Ruth Dudley Resource Center that will guide your choice and suggest good stories and ways to use them. All can be found on the shelves in section B 11.
Children’s Books that Nurture the Spirit by Louise Margaret Granahan-Northstone Publications, 2003
The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and their Creators-Anita Silvey Editor, Houghton Mifflin Publication, 2002
Children Learn What They Read by Carolyn Landers Pettigrew and Dawn Karima Pettigrew, Published by Local Church Ministries, United Church of Christ, 2003
Enjoy!
