A recent post by my favorite daily blogger, Seth Godin, contains a great deal of complexity in its few lines: When you talk about your last job, your last vacation, the things that happened when you were 12… What do you lead with? Do you lead with, “I...
Over the past several weeks, I’ve found myself reflecting on Richard Rohr’s notion of “The Edge of Inside.” Being on the edge of inside means being connected to an established system but not being beholden to it or reliant upon it. Sometimes, being too far...
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29 When we think about naming and labeling, recall how God gave Adam the job of naming what He created. That naming was not just a vocabulary challenge, but it was an...
"Anger and tears create the space for the work of the Spirit. They are the groaning of the Spirit for renewal of creation and an expression of compassion thus revealing a deep spiritual well. To fear our tears or to suppress our anger is to...
This past weekend I participated in a protest here in Atlanta, Georgia organized by my daughter and some of her former classmates at The Lovett School. The small group of college freshman and sophomore’s decided to hold a protest in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta,...
Christian Conscience in Crisis: A Statement About The Most Recent Painful and Poignant Examples of Racial Injustice In Our Society. The Ministry Collaborative has long been committed to creating spaces and processes for nurturing deep, trusting relationships across perceived barriers in communities, especially between pastors, but...
To assume that peace exists or can be maintained simply by remaining silent, is a misrepresentation of what peace is. To remain silent in the face of oppression or violence, is not “peace,” and that silence is not “golden.” This false peace is more akin...
Over the past two months, we've been listening and learning alongside pastors and lay leaders from all over the country, from a broad diversity of backgrounds and contexts, about the complexities of ministry right now. Below, we’ve attempted to compile a list of quotes, questions,...
Our Advisory Board here at MMF is an amazing group of women and men who are engaged in ministry from many different angles in diverse places around the country. On a call with them last week, we were talking about all the challenges facing pastors...