Tag Archives: Leadership and the Church

“Well-being can…

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“Well-being cannot exist just in your own head. Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment.”

This quote should not surprise us, but, as John Tierney states in his New York Times article (2011), Martin Seligman’s work with positive psychology is trying to help us humans figure out what’s deeper than happiness. (See: A New Gauge to See What’s Beyond Happiness by JOHN TIERNEY in New York Times, Published: May 16, 2011 at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/science/17tierney.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0).

Having spent the afternoon with a room full of curious leaders studying their Strengths, it’s amazing to me how leaders not only don’t know how to embrace their unique giftedness, but leaders in ministry are living with such mixed messages that it seems almost impossible to aspire to living “well” (as defined by the above quote.)

Yet, at the heart of ministry, I’d argue, is exactly that – living well, or as John puts it, living abundantly. Abundant life is not about happiness, but about living well.

So, today, heading into the weekend, how might you engage in a practice of living well? And how might you, as a leader in ministry, help those around you do the same?

Terri

Current picture of ELCA by the numbers

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Many of my ELCA peers have wondered about the impact of the churchwide vote on congregations leaving the ELCA. This past June The Lutheran gave a current picture by highlighting some of the numbers. And while numbers don’t tell us everything, they do note some of the changes. Here are some exerpts from the article:

“As of the beginning of April (2012), 915 congregations had taken first votes to leave the ELCA, with 684 passing and 231 failing. On the second vote (required to officially withdraw from the ELCA), 25 failed and 631 passed. Of those, 621 have been officially removed from the ELCA roster.” (bold mine)

Where was the impact?  Minnesota – 70 (6% of all ELCA churches there), Ohio – 53 (9%), Iowa – 53 (11%), Texas – 48 (13%), Pennsylvania – 40 (3%)

“With roughly 200 new starts over the past few years, the ELCA today claims about 9,800  congregations and 4.2 million members.”

“What does this mean? Our church is changing…We are not stuck in the present and neither are we stranded by inaction in pining for some idealized past. We look and move forward with confidence like our forebears, placing our trust in the Lord to guide us.”

For more see: Numbers Tell a Tale of Change – Some up, done – always onward by Daniel Lehmann .The Lutheran, June 2012, access at http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article.cfm?article_id=10713

Creating a Leadership Culture

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Mark Miller, Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness for Chick-fil-a, says…

“What organizations desperately need is not just a point-of-view on leadership, they need a leadership culture. I define a leadership culture as a place in which leaders are routinely and systematically produced. In a leadership culture, it is not unusual when there is a surplus of qualified leadership candidates for an open position.”

Check out his 5 keys to creating a leadership culture.

http://greatleadersserve.org/creating-a-leadership-culture/

The Day After

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Lent has come and gone.
Lenten disciplines expired.
Hallelujah’s returned.
Darkness turned to light.
But what’s changed?

Today marks the first day of April, and the first day after Easter.
We have proclaimed to be Easter people, now what?
Will the pain of mourning subside?
Will the heavy load of transition get lighter?
Will saying good-bye become manageable?

This lent, more so than others, was filled with living in the brokenness of life. And while I don’t like living in brokenness, I did find comfort in being in the season of brokenness with others. It allowed me to name it and not pretend. To hear lament. To dwell in the now, and not rush to the not yet. And now that we are on “the other side,” I’m not sure I’m ready to move on – to let go, to believe the promises, and to focus on the brightness of Easter. I’m not done being angry, grieving, shedding tears…and the future is still so unclear.

Perhaps this was what the disciples where feeling the morning they went fishing. You know the story in John 21. It was after Jesus’ death and resurrection…and what did Jesus’ followers do? They did what they knew – they went fishing. Now I don’t fish, but I do long for some form of normalcy, which I think was what they were trying to find.

In MN the snow is melting, the sun shining, and my running shoes are ready to hit the pavement…puddles and all. It’s still cold and winter lingers in the air, but there are hints of summer and I long for those warm days. Perhaps it’s simple things like this, ordinary things, that move us from focusing on the brokenness to being driven by hope. I want it to be different, to wake up one day and all things are new, just like Easter morning. But that’s not real, at least for me.

The irony here is hope, God’s promise of new life, is the exact thing that got me through lent. And now that it’s here, Im not ready to pack it up and say good bye. It’s not that I live without hope. It’s just I don’t feel the joy…sense the abundance of life which accompanies Easter. Chocolates and new clothes don’t make it real. But maybe this is what it means to be Easter people – we live fully aware of both Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We can’t separate them

Abundant life is bittersweet. It’s melancholy, if you will, as Christians know joy because they know pain and brokenness. So today, I’m moving forward into life post-Easter taking Good Friday with me. Unlike my Christmas decorations, I’m not packing up the lenten disciplines and painful moments of these past days. Rather, I’m holding them in one hand as I also embrace life and hold hope in the other.

Growing into our Easter promises!
Terri