From the article Confidentiality in the Church: What the Pastor Knows and Tells, by D. Elizabeth Audette.
A recent survey I conducted of 300 Congregational clergy and laity uncovered some assumptions about confidentiality. No members of the group articulated ecclesial or theological grounds for their assumptions. Continue reading Confidentiality in the Church
The term “triune brain” describes three levels of the brain; the reactive brain (brainstem), the feeling brain (limbic), and the thinking brain (neo-cortex). When anxiety arises the reactive brain takes over, and we become more instinctive in our action.
This understanding of the brain plays a role in Bowen’s Family Systems Theory, which focuses on being “less-anxious” presence (the correct phrase is “non-anxious presence,” but we are only non-anxious when we are dead), attempting to allow the thinking brain to function even when the anxiety in the surroundings is running high.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke offers a good overview of the brain on their website, called Brain Basics: Know Your Brain.
Andrew Root’s article “Reexamining Relational Youth Ministry: Implications from the Theology of Bonhoeffer” is an excellent reminder that youth ministry should not be about creating a place of influence but a place of sharing. The question the church must ask according to Root is:
Will we seek to hire young, magnetic individuals who can use relationships as a means to an end, or will we, all of us (youth workers, volunteers, and congregation members), bravely take the initiative to walk into the center of adolescents’ deepest sufferings and joys, standing with and for them, sharing their place? In this way relationships are an end, the concrete presence of Christ in the world.
The most persistent systemic problem with big international aid efforts, one highlighted in virtually every major study, is that no one is in charge. In a major catastrophe, thousands of high-minded, highly motivated folks pour in from all over the world. Each big agency has its own style and priorities, and each sets up its own supply chain of planes, ships, and trucks. They compete with one another for resources, duplicate one another’s efforts, and generally get in one another’s way.
from Organizing Armageddon: What We Learned From the Haiti Earthquake via Derek Hoven.
What is not mentioned in the article, and is even more catastrophic is the fact that very few of those aid efforts utilize and work with locals, allowing the locals to participate in the decision-making process. This is perhaps best understood by the fact that no Haitian is addressed in the article except for the negative image of a muscular man stalling the Red Cross in their effort to deliver food.
Few years ago I wrote an educational material for the church of Iceland, in collaboration with Guðrún Eggertsdóttir and Ragnheiður Sverrisdóttir, about how congregations can structure their ministry to those that are unable to leave their home.
I have always meant to look at the in context of the structure of Stephen Ministries here in the US. And maybe one day I will.
Nice is not a Christian virtue.
Brad Binau in Care of Souls class.
The problem is not our inability to create a vision for the church. The problem is not seeing what is God’s vision for the church.
Note from a class discussion in the course Care of Souls@Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
Margaret Marcuson addresses leadership in congregations in her book, Leaders who Last, starting with the claim that to sustain leadership we must stop controlling others, and start the difficult task of managing ourselves (3). She continues in a similar fashion, reminding us that pastoral ministry does only bring to us the peace of mind we enter the ministry with in the first place (6). Continue reading Leaders who Last
The main problem has to do with the uncritical, theologically naive, rigid, and overly confident manner in which Myers-Briggs categories are often employed in various church settings. Church people, particularly the clergy, are taking MBTI results as the gospel truth and blithely using them to make employment decisions, to establish leadership styles and regulate staff relationships, and to advise people about everything from marriage roles to prayer techniques.
…Why is it that so many in the Christian church, with its long and rich history of understanding persons in the most profound way possible -as living souls and as creatures made in the image of God should fall into the trap of allowing for a moment those theologically enduring and wondrously mysterious understandings to be displaced by something as superficial as a grid of sixteen suspiciously artificial personality types woven out of a questionable and all-too-fashionable theory of human temperament?
via Theology Today – Vol 49, No.3 – October 1992 – EDITORIAL – Myers-Briggs and Other Modern Astrologies.
Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires—the constant switching and pivoting—energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we’re supposed to be concentrating on.
via The Autumn of the Multitaskers by Walter Kirn.
We advocate the use of a family systems approach to premarital pastoral work, involving exploration of the families of origin of the intended spouses. Family systems theory argues that a marriage is like a merger of two corporations, each having its own stockholders; thus, adequate preparation for marriage involves coming to terms with the realities of one’s family of origin and that of one’s intended spouse. Exploratory techniques include genograms, house tours, family photo albums, and discussions of the rules and rituals in the respective families. Leaving father and mother is the central prerequisite to marriage.
via You Must Leave Before You Can Cleave: A Family Systems Approach to Premarital Pastoral Work.
This article does not fit well into the marriage culture in Iceland. Having said that, its focus on family of origin work, differentiation, and different views on relationships is valuable.
There are various catch-all solution to be found out there. The miracle question, pioneered by Steve de Shazer could be seen as one of them. However, it is merely an attempt to be a shortcut to get right to the core of the problem in therapy. The therapist asks the client to imagine what the world would be like if the problem he presented to the therapist would disappear by a miracle over night.
One might wonder whether this is very far from the Secret or Joel Osteen, and surely I am not sure.
You can read about Solution focused brief therapy which is the fancy name for the Miracle Question.
Unless we are able, as Christians, to discover ways of conducting our life and our mission that differ radically from the Christendom form of the church that has dominated throughout most of Christian history, we shall be doomed in the future to be part of our world’s problem, and not its solution.
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Perhaps if ecumenism was less concerned about the union of tired, old institutions and more concerned about the calling of the Christian movement in the world as a whole, ecumenicity itself would be more vital to all who take this faith with some degree of seriousness.
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We Christians, who have imposed ourselves and our faith on so many, for so long, must now earn the right to explain the reason for our hope.
Adiaphora in Christianity refer to matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless as permissible for Christians or allowed in church. What is specifically considered adiaphora depends on the specific theology in view. (WikiPedia)
The question we must constantly deal with is what is essential to our worldview and what is not. It is important to understand that things can be relevant without being essential. This does apply to worship practices, to take but one example. The issue arrises when things stop being “adiaphora” and become “demonic” to our faith and our worldview. Then the real problems start.
In a world where everything is supposed to be doubted, and nothing is as simple as it seems it is interesting how many theories claim to be universal. One of them is E.K. Ross’s Five Stages of Grief. Surely, there is a value in recognizing the various emotional stages a grieving person goes through, and I am not saying that using Ross’s stages can not helpful. It is the universal claim in her book that is problematic. Well here comes the real reason for this post, naming the stages and give the “official Icelandic translation.”
* The use of the word depression (isl. þunglyndi) is not very accurate in E.K. Ross’s writing. I would prefer using anxiety (isl. kvíði). However, I am not a psychologist.
In the 1930s an anthropologist Morris Olper recorded that among an Apache group of southern New Mexico, a person who had not acted ethically would be asked, “How could you do that? Didn’t you have a grandfather to tell you stories?” The spiritual and religious life depends on the stories you choose to write and tell and those we do not.
Sandy Sasso writes about her books and the importance of storytelling in an article called “The Role of Narrative in the Spiritual Formation of Children” in Family Ministry vol. 19, no. 2, Summer 2005.
Which decisions about dying are morally acceptable to concerned Christians, and which ones go beyond morally acceptable limits? Which medical practices and public policies allow for more humane treatment for those who are dying and which ones open the door to abuse and the violation of human dignity? Proposals in various states to legalize physician-assisted death [4] point to renewed interest in these old questions. ELCA members, congregations, and institutions need to address these questions through prayer and careful reflection.
End of Life Decisions – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a social message from ELCA to help deal with those questions.
Another more complete resource on End-of-Life Decisions and especially Euthanasia is a book edited by Tom L Beauchamp called Intending Death.
Search Institute® is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization committed to helping create healthy communities for every young person. Because we believe that “all kids are our kids,” we create books and other materials that welcome and respect people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, genders, religions, economic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and abilities. Our Mission: To provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.
Search Institute: 50 Years of Discovering What Kids Need to Succeed | Search Institute.
Of special interest at Search Institute are the well known “Developmental Assets.” The Developmental Assets are 40 “qualities essential to raising successful young people.”
FaithTrust Institute is a national, multifaith, multicultural training and education organization with global reach working to end sexual and domestic violence.
FaithTrust Institute has various resources to deal with and confront boundary issues of Religious Leaders.
Friendship Ministries is a not-for-profit organization that exists to help churches and organizations around the world share God’s love with people who have intellectual disabilities.
LDM equips the Church to minister with persons who are mentally impaired. Through innovative programs, we evangelize, develop relationships, model servanthood, and disciple leaders
LDM began as an independent ministry serving the Lutheran Church. However, we understand that the mission of LDM is much larger than any single denomination. We are available to assist any Christian congregation to start intentional programs for people that are mentally impaired. Our programs teach the basics of the Christian faith as revealed in God’s Holy Scripture. As Christians, we are saved by God’s grace through Jesus Christ.
LDM.
