How are you cultivating pastoral imagination?
This week, Three Minute Ministry Mentor Host, Eileen Campbell-Reed is away on vacation with her family. However, recently Eileen shared a conversation with Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Today we want to share that conversation with you. Please enjoy hearing how to cultivate pastoral imagination at the podcast link below. And learn more about Eileen’s new book and journal in this 30-minute Lewis Center podcast.
In the conversation, Eileen touches on topics in her new book Pastoral Imagination; Bringing the the Practice of Ministry to Life. You can learn more about the chapters on the following topics by following these links. And remember, the book itself includes many additional stories and insights!
Chapter 3: Ministry as a Practice
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Ministry itself, like most professions and complex practices, is dogged and driven by a rush to achieve. Yet to learn a multifaceted professional and spiritual practice such as ministry takes time, preparation, and experience.”
Chapter 4: Collaboration
“When human collaborations are at their best, when we take time to understand each other and work patiently, they can demonstrate the wonder of God’s presence in our work.”
Chapter 12: Mentoring for Skill
“If a mentor and mentee, or a mentoring peer group can put skills for mentoring on the front burner of the metaphorical mentoring stove, then something powerful can happen. By focussing first on skills, the relational support and trust will grow as it bubbles gently along on the back burner.”
Chapter 45: Navigating Conflict
“Conflict in ministry is hard. It is hard because it often feels personal. It is hard because it can evoke feelings like anger, self-doubt, fear or shame, feelings that are unpleasant to digest. And it is hard because change of any kind is often accompanied by some conflict. Yet change is also essential for flourishing in ministry. And it follows that conflict is often one aspect of health and growth.”
Episode 84: “Cultivating and Nurturing the Pastoral Imagination” featuring Eileen Campbell-Reed
Earlier this summer at the Lewis Center, Eileen shared excerpts from her book. You can read them here:
Chapter 10: Failing Creatively
“We cannot reach the far edges of knowing how to act, what knowledge is needed, or what new path is being created without tripping up along the way, … failure is not a one-time event but a way of taking continuous risk and responsibility for leading.”
Chapter 33: Cultivating Questions
“When we take time to pay attention patiently and deeply, we can discover that there is much more going on, much more to discover about the person or situation, much more to notice about the presence of the holy.”
Fifty Topics for Ministry
Learn more about cultivating pastoral Imagination by exploring the Season One 3MMM videos (three minutes each) and blogs on all 50 topics. And then visit the shop, and order your copy of book and journal today!
