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Work Engagement: being energised, dedicated and engaged in our ministries
Would you describe yourself as being energised, dedicated and engaged by and in your ministry? How have your experiences with COVID-19 and the different challenges that have come about in your ministry changed your energy and commitment and engagement in that ministry? It may be if you were struggling already this has either led to […]
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Our culture of busyness
“How has your week gone everybody?” This was a starter question in a small group in the ministers’ gathering. “Busy” is the response that rings around the [zoom break-out] room… The life of ministry is busy and there were all kinds of events that people mentioned that they were working towards that filled their heads […]
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Aligning our theology of ministry and of self-care
I’ve thought about having a ‘theology of self-care’ but actually it is more having a theology of ministry and then part of that is how self-care might have a part. There is no one-size-fits-all when we talk about ministry let alone self-care. So while on one hand that is a comfort (especially for those of […]
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The troublesome language of self-care
We have been talking about self-care for a number of weeks. But there are problems with the language of self-care. Three main reasons are the ways that it buys into the current self-focus of the age, multi-cultural factors, and ministry as a call to service. Self-care: you’re worth it! We live in an age when […]
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Taking ourselves seriously when it comes to self-care
A ministry colleague (and previous student) has just posted his second day of ‘25 Push-ups for 25 days to raise awareness on Anxiety, PTSD, Depression and Suicide’. When I commended him (not volunteering to do the same) his response was ‘self-care is a must!’ I’m pleased that that message has got through to someone. But […]
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Supervision at a distance
We are all grappling with life and ministry having changed dramatically with the advent of coronavirus and consequent social distancing. It is in times of change and stress that the place of supervision comes into its own; at the same time one of the impacts on many of us is that we can no longer […]
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Reflection: Contagion and Anxiety
We have been learning medical – epidemiological language lately that we never knew existed or we would need. Growth rate, doubling time, flattening the curve, and reproduction number (R0), or the number of people who will become infected from one contagious person. The other pandemic we have seen coursing through the world at the moment […]
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Good-Enough: A reflection on the millstone of aspirational perfection
Today I read a Facebook post where a woman was talking about having been a child in Bosnia, where from the age of 8 she missed four years of schooling during the war. She left Bosnia for NZ (I think) at 13 with no English and little schooling. She now has a degree and is […]
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What did I learn? Forgiveness is not easy
I have always enjoyed ferry boat rides; across the river Mersey as a child, over to Rottnest Island as an adult and over to Manly as a tourist when visiting Sydney. However my most significant ferry trip was a few years ago in South Africa to Robben Island. The island is infamous because it was […]
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Practicing Patience
If you travel on the freeway you will know how congested it is, and how frustrating! As I travel to work I frequently see drivers weave in and out of the traffic, constantly switching lanes. However, I note they rarely reach their exit before drivers who are more patient. We name patience as a great […]