Download the #PandemicPastoring Report today! At Three Minute Ministry Mentor (3MMM), we began focusing on #PandemicPastoring in March of 2020. By early summer we could see the impact on ministry would not be short-lived. So we continued collecting and sharing…
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Perhaps you have been hearing about the concept of pastoral imagination for a while. We hope so! And maybe you are wondering: how would someone teach that? Today, let’s talk about teaching pastoral imagination, the concept, the book and the…
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There’s a lot of hand wringing right now. Some of the world’s news sounds alarming and more than a little confusing. Earlier this summer we thought the pandemic was perhaps winding down. For many of us, a majority of adults…
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So you’ve been hearing the phrase pastoral imagination? And you’re thinking hmmmm, that’s interesting. Sounds kind of fun. Maybe a little mysterious. I’d like to know more…. But what is it exactly? You have come to the right place. I…
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In this second episode of Season Three of 3MMM, we are excited to hear from from guest author, Christian Scharen. He and I are co-directors of the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project. And we just learned in recent weeks that we…
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Boundaries can serve us well in the practice of ministry. When boundaries give clarity to relationships and prevent the abuse of power, they are worth maintaining. Boundaries can also become barriers in the work of ministry. How does this happen?…
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When I was in college and seminary, I took a lot of tests. I made really good grades on most of them. I memorized dates, names, cities, battles, theorems, species, genus, phylum, periodic tables, chemical compounds, and rules of grammar…
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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…
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Facing our fears. It can be hard even to admit our fears, much less face them. Fear of loss. Fear of disappointment. Fear of not getting what you want and fear of getting it. Fear of walking down the street. Fear…
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Vocation. Work. Calling.Ministry. Family. Life. Vocation is a word that often evokes the idea of work. Yet vocation is not just work. Vocation may bring to the top of your mind the idea of calling. Yet vocation is more than…
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“Ministry as Spiritual Practice: How Pastors Learn to See and Respond to the ‘More’ of A Situation” by Eileen R. Campbell-Reed and Christian Scharen Abstract Christian ministry in a changing and challenging context requires “pastoral imagination,” a capacity to perceive…
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Salience. Seeing what is important in a field of things or a situation; sorting through possible meanings to find the one that is pertinent, urgent or more immediate in character. Salience. /ˈsālēəns/ This week’s episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor…
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Improvise. Rearrange and fit to size. Change. Adapt. And revise Move it around as time flies. Pivot. Shift. Sidestep. Riff. Play it like jazz. Do you get my drift? A finely honed practice of professional tennis, or vegan cooking, or…
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Erosion. Not a pretty word to think about when it comes to chaplaincy, activism, congregational pastoring, or nonprofit leadership. And yet, it is real. The routines and daily rigors of the work can surely wear ministers down emotionally, relationally and…
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“Questions?” When I took a public speaking course a few years ago, this is how the instructor taught us to end our speeches: Ask, “Questions?” And then wait for the audience to start asking. In ministry, teaching, and lots of…
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“Patience!” ~Yoda When Luke Skywalker arrives on the stormy, swampy planet Dagobah in search of Yoda, he is impatient. In fact he has no patience at all. He does not know what or who he is seeing. Instead he exudes…
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My training in psychology prepared me to look with careful attention to the past and to analyze how stories from family and childhood experiences that shape our lives. Not just our personal stories, but also stories embedded in religious rituals…
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Sabbath. I have been trying to practice a weekly Sabbath very intentionally for about 14 years now. I tried in fits and starts to take time off, and practice Sabbath rest in the years I served the church full time,…
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Place matters. In so many ways it matters. Where you observe Holy Week. Where you go home at night. Where you were raised. Where you work and live and play. Each of these places matter, and they give shape to…
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What do brick walls, American Idol and ministry have to do with each other? Read on . . . Lately, I’ve been watching American Idol. Now, in truth since my daughter was born, I nearly gave up television altogether. The…
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I believe one of the easiest temptations when navigating one-to-one mentoring is to carry our big relational needs and expectations into the work. I know in my first call out of seminary, I wanted a mentor so much. I wanted…
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