Tag: communication

LPLI – Assessment tool for Pastors

The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary has developed a new online leadership assessment instrument called the Lewis Pastoral Leadership Inventory™ (LPLI). Specifically designed for clergy, the LPLI helps pastoral leaders identify individual strengths and weaknesses to improve their ministry effectiveness. The LPLI uses a three-fold understanding of fruitful leadership encompassing Character,Competence, and Contribution. LPLI users receive a personalized leadership profile report that can be used for self-discovery, gathering feedback from others, setting goals for improvement, identifying continuing education needs, and tracking progress over time.

About LPLI — Lewis Center for Church Leadership™.

“Political Functions of Storytelling”

In her book After Empire, Sharon D Welch talks about Iris Marion Young’s “political functions of storytelling”:

  1. Storytelling may bring into public discourse an experience of oppression that is not recognized within existing categories of immoral or criminal activity. The example that Young gives is sexual harassment. Through personal stories, such experiences have moved from being regarded as merely a private matters to a widespread recognition of the social and political ramifications of such an abuse of power.
  2. When people disagree about what counts as a social problem or how social conflicts can best be addressed, narrative may reveal “the source of values, priorities, or cultural meanings.” It is easier to engage in productive disagreement and conflict when we more thoroughly understand the multiple reasons that people have for holding ideas we may see as erroneous or dangerous.
  3. Narrative can help us understand the effects that policies and actions are likely to have on individuals in different social situations. No matter how open our understanding, we cannot know the world from all locations and from all points of view. We need the insights of others to overcome our stereotypes and limited vision.

From Sharon D. Welch’s book After Empire. Her thoughts are based on Iris Marion Young’s Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford Political Theory).

Communication Strategies

W. Graig Gilliam talks about need for lessened anxiety and listening skills to create community.

For communication to occur, some level of communion or connection is a must. When those two comm words happen, a thirdcomm word constellates — community. Listening openly and honestly is a powerful way to communion/connection. In the silence of listening, we feel this comm, the silence of oneness. 

Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders.