|
|
|
One of the most important challenges of the church in our times is the specialized ministry necessary in a congregation after trust has been broken. In recent years there have been many well-publicized instances of clergy and other church leaders who have crossed the boundaries of common morality and taken advantage of those who trusted them. This kind of situation leaves behind not only wounded individuals, but also wounded churches, whose potential to carry out effective ministry is diminished. A different type of leadership is needed when trust has been broken. The relationship between leader and congregation is complex and heavily seeded with aspects of vulnerability that often involve the deep inner lives of congregants. The immediate task is to bring healing to a broken situation. What is the process of healing and how is it accomplished? |
|||||||||
BOOK REVIEW Stilling the Storm: Worship and Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times What would your congregation’s worship service look like next Sunday if your sanctuary burned to the ground tomorrow, if a beloved pastor announced that he or she was retiring suddenly, if a scandal came to light, or if another unexpected catastrophe like September 11th occurred? The thesis of Kathleen Smith’s book is: When congregations go through difficult times, those difficulties affect the worship life of the congregation, and the practice of worship will itself be a key part of the congregation’s healing process. The text explores how worship can be a vital avenue of pastoral care when congregations go through times of crisis, transition, and conflict. |
|||||||||||
| The Right Question | |||||||||||
Strategic planning rightly spends much time focusing on changes anticipated in the future. There is another question that Jeff Bezos, founder of the online retail giant Amazon, suggested in a recent interview. He said he is rarely asked a very important question for leaders: What is not going to change in the next five to ten years?
|
|||||||||||
| _________________________________________________________________________ | |||||||||||
Editors: Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Ann A. Michel Copyright © 2007 by the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Leading Ideas material may be freely distributed with attribution (exclusive of material protected by separate copyright). |
|||||||||||
 |
