PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS
How Can Clergy Achieve Positive Mental Health?
STUDY HIGHLIGHTS CONDITIONS THAT HELP CLERGY THRIVE
McDonald's might not be the first place people think of as a hub for ministry. But that's where you'll find the Rev. Chip Webb most mornings, sipping a steaming coffee as the Pfafftown, North Carolina, community streams in.
"At 8 a.m., at 9 a.m., at 10 a.m., there are a whole lot of older adult United Methodists taking care of their needs for fellowship in those very inexpensive fast food joints," Webb said.
And he counts himself among them. Many of the people he chats with each morning are not members of his Brookstown United Methodist congregation, and he relies on those conversations for outside perspective.
"It's a wonderful practice for me, simply to confirm for myself that I'm a member of this broader community, and my life doesn't just center around being at the church or with church folk," Webb said.
It wasn't always that way.
"In my first appointment, I would have thought, 'If people see me at McDonald's or Hardee's every day, they'll think I'm just a slacker,'" he said. "But the reality is it feeds my soul, and I'm able to feed other people, emotionally and spiritually."
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"HEALTH & WELL-BEING, EMOTIONAL HEALTH: How can clergy achieve positive mental health?"
The Rev. Chip Webb, far right, drinks coffee at McDonald's most mornings to connect with people outside his congregation. He says the practice helps him remember that he is a member of a broader community. Photo by Lauren Olinger
A new study of United Methodist clergy in North Carolina has found that certain conditions correspond to both a lower likelihood of depression and anxiety and to higher levels of positive mental health. By promoting these, churches can help their clergy thrive.
McDonald’s might not be the first place people think of as a hub for ministry. But that’s where you’ll find the Rev. Chip Webb most mornings, sipping a steaming coffee as the Pfafftown, North Carolina, community streams in.
“At 8 a.m., at 9 a.m., at 10 a.m., there are a whole lot of older adult United Methodists taking care of their needs for fellowship in those very inexpensive fast food joints,” Webb said.
And he counts himself among them. Many of the people he chats with each morning are not members of his Brookstown United Methodist congregation, and he relies on those conversations for outside perspective.
“It’s a wonderful practice for me, simply to confirm for myself that I’m a member of this broader community, and my life doesn’t just center around being at the church or with church folk,” Webb said.
It wasn’t always that way.
“In my first appointment, I would have thought, ‘If people see me at McDonald’s or Hardee’s every day, they’ll think I’m just a slacker,’” he said. “But the reality is it feeds my soul, and I’m able to feed other people, emotionally and spiritually.”
Do you regularly take time to care for your mental health?
As the Clergy Health Initiative(link is external) at Duke Divinity School is finding, that sense of connectedness can be a marker of something very powerful for clergy: positive mental health.
Positive mental health is more than the absence of negative emotions. People with positive mental health experience high levels of positive emotions, which can be anything from chuckling at a cartoon to feeling awe at the sunset. They feel good about themselves as individuals, experiencing meaning in their lives, positive relationships and personal growth. They also feel satisfied with themselves in community with others -- a sense of belonging and contribution.
In their professional roles, clergy frequently negotiate highly stressful situations, and that can take a personal toll. Researchers with the Clergy Health Initiative found that United Methodist clergy in North Carolina experience high rates of depression and anxiety(link is external). Clergy in other mainline Protestant denominations face similar pressures and likely experience similar outcomes.
At the same time, the unique vocation and responsibilities of clergy may have a bearing on their positive mental health. Many clergy strive to live engaged and meaningful lives, and like other caregivers, they feel a strong calling to their work. They also often feel called to help others find meaning and joy during times of suffering and negative circumstances.
In a new study of United Methodist clergy in North Carolina recently published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion(link is external), the Clergy Health Initiative set out to determine which factors might protect clergy against problems such as emotional exhaustion, depression and anxiety, and which factors might improve their positive mental health.
They discovered that the factors associated with a lower likelihood of negative outcomes such as depression and anxiety are not necessarily the same as those associated with positive mental health. By identifying factors and pursuing strategies that relate to both, churches can decrease mental health problems among clergy and boost pastors’ positive mental health at the same time.
“People with positive mental health have been shown to work more effectively with people of different backgrounds, races and genders,” said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, the Clergy Health Initiative’s research director. “They’re also more open to social interaction and to new ideas, and better equipped to solve problems creatively. Who wouldn’t want that sort of leader at the helm of their congregation?”
Moreover, those with positive mental health are less likely to experience a new case of anxiety or depression, be hospitalized or develop a chronic disease in the next year.
So while offering support and treatment for depression and anxiety is important, Proeschold-Bell said, churches should also put resources toward proactively promoting clergy’s positive mental health, which can further serve as a preventive against physical or mental health problems.
The Clergy Health Initiative study found several factors related to positive mental health in clergy -- leading a “positive congregation,” for example, in which congregants get along with each other, contribute positively to the surrounding community, and are open to new experiences and new people; and perceiving that congregants support the pastor as an individual, not just as a pastor.
- Do you perceive that your congregants or community support you as an individual?
Financial stress among clergy is not uncommon. The minimum salary for a full-time pastor in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church is roughly $42,000; the median full-time income in this study was $48,000. While housing expenses are often covered as part of a compensation package, clergy responsible for the expenses of raising a family and paying off debt from seminary and undergraduate education may well experience financial strain.
In addition, the frequent relocations required of itinerant United Methodist clergy may limit the incomes of clergy spouses, who may not receive promotions because of short tenures, thereby increasing the family’s financial stress. Lengthening church appointments could help, the study said, as could providing financial counseling and planning tools for clergy.
Clergy themselves, speaking with Clergy Health Initiative researchers, named a variety of strategies they use to increase social support and decrease social isolation -- joining a covenant peer group, for example, or finding a mentor.
“Ministry is lonely, particularly in some of these smaller churches,” said the Rev. Jenny Wilson, associate pastor of Apex United Methodist Church in Apex, North Carolina. “You don’t have a large staff. You’re not part of a big team.”
A covenant group can go a long way toward providing clergy with much-needed support and accountability, she said. “I always was in one. It has been huge for me.”
Webb said his ministry has benefited from a mentoring relationship with a more seasoned pastor.
“My very first appointment [as a student pastor], I had four churches,” he said. “At the main church, there was a person who was maybe eight years older than me, and he was my lifeline. He sought me out to engage me; he was hospitable and invitational and nonjudgmental. He’d been doing it long enough where he could simply say to me, ‘You don’t need to do this. You don’t need to put up with this.’ And whether I listened to him or not, that was extremely helpful for me.”
The Rev. David Woodhouse of Smyrna United Methodist Church near Robbins, North Carolina, increased the level of social support he receives from his congregation by engaging them in the shared work of ministry. He let his congregation know that as pastor, he intended to be present and available to people. But he also challenged them to join his efforts: “If the only people who get a visit are the people I visit, then we as a church aren’t going to fulfill our calling.”
“That concept of ‘doing church as a team’ is really important from the start,” Woodhouse said. “The truth is, a leader makes a big difference, but the impact of that leader is multiplied tremendously if others come alongside of that person, and it becomes a team effort.”
It can also have a big effect on the pastor’s health.
Editor’s note: A copy of the study is available on the websites of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion(link is external) and the Clergy Health Initiative(link is external).
Questions to consider:
- Do you regularly take time to care for your mental health? Do you pursue strategies that might improve your positive mental health, rather than only focusing on reducing depression or anxiety? What strategies have worked for you in the past?
- Do you perceive that your congregants or community support you as an individual? What markers do you look for to know whether that is true?
- Do you lead what researchers call a "positive congregation"? How much of your leadership is spent helping congregants get along with one another, contributing to the community, or feeling open to new experiences and people?
- The Rev. David Woodhouse has challenged his congregations to join him in the work of ministry. Do you invite your community to live into a joint calling, or do you feel like you need to do all of the work yourself?
THE IDEA IN ACTION
"How to foster a healthier year in ministry"
Two strategies -- seeking solitude with God and companionship in stewarding one's vision -- will help good intentions become realities in the new year, writes spiritual director Samuel Rahberg.
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"HEALTH & WELL-BEING, SPIRITUAL HEALTH, CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP - Samuel Rahberg: How to foster a healthier year in ministry
Finding time for solitude with God is a cornerstone to a healthier year in ministry.
Bigstock/marcelmooij
Two strategies -- seeking solitude with God and companionship in stewarding one’s vision -- will help good intentions become realities in the new year, writes a spiritual director.
Most Christian leaders can understand the way the most sincere intentions for well-being too easily give way to the everyday demands of ministry. Even so, with the new year upon us, something deep inside refuses to dismiss the impulse of grace and promise in a new beginning.
As a spiritual director, I hear people express both the desire for new beginnings and the sense of being stuck. This reminds me that I am not alone.
Not long ago, for example, I caught myself returning to unhealthy habits. A colleague had resigned, and I picked up her extra duties -- temporarily, I assured myself. I pressed on into an intense stretch of busyness while trying to continue meeting with people one-on-one. I acted as if nothing had changed, and then watched my energy and effectiveness fade.
Most disturbing to me was the realization that I was not listening well -- a practice fundamental to my calling.
Many Christian leaders find that the pressures of ministry are chipping away at their own wellness, their relationship with God and their ability to live out their callings faithfully.
Inevitably, the question becomes, “Now what? How do I best focus the energy I have on the things that feed my soul and ministry?”
Without exception, the most constructive response to that question (for me and for the Christian leaders I serve) is to seek solitude with God and companionship in tending the vision at the core of our callings. I believe that a healthier year in ministry begins with these two practices.
My busy stretch continued with the slightly overcaffeinated and agitated sensation that accompanies survival mode. I hunched my shoulders, lowered my head and kept plowing forward. Yet I realized that, in the words of Thomas Merton, my efforts had begun “destroy[ing] the fruitfulness of [my] own work.”
A weakened sense of vision crept up on me. It is easy to assume that burnout results from long hours, poor habits of eating and sleeping, and unrelenting tensions -- all contributing factors.
Yet the painful outcome of overwork that Merton describes suggests to me that weariness in ministry is also connected to the condition of our vision. We need an alternative to just trying harder, and we need ways to practice tending the indispensable vision at the core of our callings.
One of the problems, I soon realized, was that by staying up later and starting my work earlier, I was squeezing out the opportunity for solitude with God, something that celebrated Christian author and speaker Brennan Manning insists is essential for Christian leaders.
“The indispensable condition for developing and maintaining the awareness of our belovedness is time alone with God,” he writes in “Abba’s Child.”
“Awareness of our belovedness” is not something we can sufficiently absorb by posting a quote near our workspace or adding a tag line to our email signature. The truth of our belovedness is so intimate and powerful that it reaches down beneath our personas, beneath our roles, beneath every strategy to produce good that we have learned.
The mystery of the true self in every Christian leader -- in any disciple, for that matter -- is located in a place that is found only by sinking.
It is in this deep place, Manning argues, that we find our identity and strength for ministry, not because our willpower becomes supercharged, but because we are saturated by God’s “relentless tenderness.” For me, and for all Christian leaders, this precious solitude with God is a cornerstone to a healthier year in ministry.
Few would argue about the importance of solitude with God. Yet how can we sustain our good intentions?
One helpful resource I’ve found is the book “Change Anything.” The authors argue that relying on willpower alone inevitably leads to discouraging ends, and they suggest paying attention to what they call “crucial moments” and “vital behaviors,” as well as rebound strategies.
In my case, I saw a crucial moment for my solitude with God in the early morning hours, before the rest of my family stirs. I identified vital behaviors that would make it easier for me to be more present in the mornings, such as keeping a regular bedtime and keeping my inbox closed until a certain time.
I also noted ways to begin again as gently as possible when I missed a crucial moment. My rebound strategies included giving myself permission to simply start anew the next morning and “turn bad days into good data” by reflecting on what the disappointing experience had to teach me.
This intense stretch in my ministry has reminded me to be attentive to the vision God has planted within me, because that vision carries the tenderness of God, the hopes I have for the church and the world, and the intuitive sense that there is something meaningful for me to contribute to it all.
Yet what had caught my attention was the absence of those very characteristics in my work.
Like many who come to see me, I had allowed my field of view to become narrowed. What began to lift my eyes was renewing my solitude with God and reconnecting with companions who could help me steward my vision.
I believe that all of us benefit from companionship that helps tend the vision of our true identity. As I found myself working harder and feigning self-reliance, a number of other voices kept speaking words of grace and encouragement into my life.
Over coffee, over beer, over conversations about Scripture, they became an important connection to my true self.
When our motivations wane and we find ourselves uncertain and unclear, these companions are the ones who help us keep the questions of calling and ministry in the light.
As we look to the coming year, consider nurturing companionship as another cornerstone for Christian leadership. Find or rekindle peer groups, make standing coffee dates with mentors, interview people you admire, or just make time to reconnect without expectations.
Fostering a healthier year in ministry is not a resolution to be made or an achievement to be earned. It is not ultimately about reducing pressures, improving productivity or increasing our own comfort as Christian leaders. None of that seems durable enough to meet the realities of ministry.
I imagine a church that is bold and hopeful, not because its ranks have hunkered down and fought on headfirst into the wind, but because they slowly and steadily submit to the relentless tenderness of God and cannot resist living out of a sense of their belovedness in Christ.
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"Self-care is not selfish"
Clergy know that taking care of themselves is vital to their continued practice of ministry, but they also feel they need the permission of their congregations and their supervisors in order to take the time necessary to do that.
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"HEALTH & WELL-BEING, RESEARCH: Self-care is not self-ish"
iStock/Michael Krinke
Caught up in the day-to-day demands of ministry, clergy often find it difficult to take time to attend to their health. But in North Carolina, UMC clergy are learning that it’s more than OK to care for themselves.
When the Rev. Jeanette Hicks graduated from seminary in 2010, a mentor cautioned her about overwork. A retired pastor, the mentor hoped that Hicks and other young clergy would do better at staying healthy over the long run than she and her contemporaries had done.
But just six months later, Hicks, a United Methodist pastor then serving in the Kentucky Conference, was a sleep-deprived wreck, surviving on sugar-fueled energy and calorie-dense church meals. Despite the good advice and her best intentions, she was a walking portrait of exhaustion, with dull hair, brittle fingernails and dark circles under her eyes.
“I’ve always been a physically healthy person,” she said. “But many days I’d look at the clock, and it’d be 3 p.m. and I hadn’t eaten yet. If I took time to eat, well, that was time away from getting something done.”
Hicks’ experience is not unusual. Even with the best intentions and all the knowledge and advice in the world, clergy of all ages often find it difficult to take care of themselves, the Duke Clergy Health Initiative(link is external) has found. On the long list of items that must be done every day, they often put themselves last.
Many pastors misunderstand self-care to mean “self-ish,” said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, the initiative’s research director and assistant research professor at the Duke Global Health Institute.
“Clergy recognize the importance of caring for themselves, but doing so takes a back seat to fulfilling their vocational responsibilities, which are tantamount to caring for an entire community,” Proeschold-Bell said. “They feel they need permission to take the time to attend to their health.”
As a participant in Spirited Life(link is external), the Clergy Health Initiative’s wellness program, Hicks is learning how to give herself that permission. A two-year program of intervention services -- part of a broader study of clergy health among UMC pastors in North Carolina -- Spirited Life emphasizes stress management and healthy eating, underscored with scripturally based reasons for taking care of oneself. The initiative has found that this scriptural connection is essential for clergy, for it makes the practice of caring for themselves a part of their calling, not an additional task to complete.
Now an associate at Trinity UMC in Jacksonville, N.C., Hicks is making an effort to set boundaries and create time to care for herself and her family.
As the Clergy Health Initiative learned in a series of clergy focus groups in 2008, pastors can get caught up in trying to meet what may be unrealistic expectations -- both the congregation’s and their own. One of the most pervasive and damaging is the notion that clergy should be available around the clock, seven days a week.
“I can’t tell you how many times people say to me, ‘Well, I know Friday is your day off, but …,’”Hicks said. “I know maybe two clergy that I think of as being good at [setting] boundaries, and they get a lot of flak about it.”
In the face of such expectations, it’s easy for pastors to fall into the trap of feeling guilty when they take time to care for themselves.
“When you do take care of yourself, there’s a sense that you’re not taking care of other people,” Hicks said.
Hicks points out that even when she’s not at work, she is still caring for others. Each evening, she returns home to find her four children and husband waiting for her attention.
Back in Kentucky, fatigue became a huge factor as she felt pressure to do ever more. As each new task presented itself, she felt compelled to address it immediately. Otherwise, it would take time away from her family later.
In the clergy focus groups, the Duke researchers found that many pastors believe that church members do not understand the breadth and depth of pastoral ministry. One pastor remarked that congregants “are aware we work one hour on Sunday, and they don’t realize [we work] the whole rest of the week. There’s no such thing as a 40-hour week.” Another pastor pointed out that “every person sitting in the pew has a separate job description for our job, and when you put it all together, it’s an impossible task.”
Only a few months into a new appointment -- his first as a solo pastor -- the Rev. John Michael McAllister is already beginning to feel the weight of such expectations.
In July, McAllister became pastor of Trinity UMC in Raleigh after four years as an associate at a larger church across town. After 10 years of declining membership, Trinity had asked for a younger pastor to help them identify ways to be engaged in the community. As their new pastor, McAllister wants to deliver.
“There’s a real vibe here that we are ready for some change, to have someone who is keen on making some connections in the community,” he said. “I’m really trying to capitalize on the new-guy, new-thing capital that I have right now.”
In his first month at Trinity, McAllister held 45 meetings with community leaders, made at least as many pastoral care visits, and wrote and delivered four weeks’ worth of sermons. He knows his pace isn’t sustainable, but he’s not quite sure how to cut back when the time comes.
Eventually, he hopes to return to a pattern that worked well for him at the church where he was an associate. There, the senior pastor made sure everyone understood that Fridays were the pastors’ official day off. McAllister also set aside Saturdays for sabbath and time with his wife, a practice that he says is “not really optional” for sustaining his mental health. He spent the first half of the week on visits and administrative tasks and used Thursdays for writing his sermons.
The schedule worked, but like many pastors, McAllister still felt strong pressure -- from both himself and others -- to put other people first. And also like many pastors, he felt deeply rewarded whenever someone praised him for going above and beyond.
Fortunately, McAllister has a team of supporters who help him fight the guilt and resist the temptation. His wife and a covenant group of other pastors help him remember to set boundaries.
It can be easier for other people -- especially people who know and care about you -- to see when life is starting to get out of balance, McAllister said.
But it’s not enough to just set boundaries. You also have to keep them. When church members call about non-urgent matters on his day off, McAllister has been kind but firm, asking them to wait.
“Just because you can always reach me in an emergency doesn’t mean that I’m available 24/7,” he said. “Some people get that inherently. Some people do not.”
At the same time, self-care doesn’t mean pastors have to set impregnable boundaries. Hicks, for example, found that she was able to integrate self-care into her ministry, engaging the congregation in the process.
Realizing that her own guilt would make it impossible to schedule time just for herself, she looked for ways to incorporate those opportunities into her ministry. During Lent, she taught yoga to her congregation as a discipline of body, mind and spirit.
“I was surprised by how many people came and how readily accepted it was,” she said.
As instructor, she would move around the room and, when necessary, ask participants if she could guide their bodies into more effective positions. The class -- and the connections it forged -- became an unexpected and effective opportunity for ministry.
Moving the participants into a new yoga position, she could often feel the tension in their muscles, and when she commented, they would inevitably tell her about some stressful event that had happened recently.
“When I just see people on Sunday, I don’t have that interaction with them,” she said. “There was a surprising amount of vulnerability.”
More than just a health class, the yoga group became a spiritual experience. The group incorporated communion and prayer into some of the sessions and ended each session in silence.
“People would really talk about the inner peace that that gave them and how God spoke to them,” Hicks said. “They didn’t want to get up. They didn’t want to leave. And I would think, ‘Why can’t church be like this?’”
Approaches that tie together mental, physical and spiritual health are often the most effective in convincing clergy to take better care of themselves, the Clergy Health Initiative has found.
Hicks is a believer. She’s seen too many pastors run into the ground by ministry.
“We’re not honoring the vessel that God has given us to work with when we do that,” she said. “Honoring our bodies and our time, taking sabbath -- these are as important as caring for others.”
McAllister, too, remains hopeful -- and for very practical reasons. He loves ministry and wants to be in it for the long run.
“If I don’t establish some healthy rhythms, some healthy boundaries, I’m not sure 15 years from now if it will still be the coolest job in the world,” he said.
CONTINUE YOUR OWN DEVELOPMENT
ONLINE COURSE: Sourcing Innovation
Join visual anthropologist and filmmaker Marlon Hall and a community of other Christian leaders for a five-week online course as we move step-by-step through the process of learning from a community. Explore how to capture true need through listening and observation. Then translate those insights into a story that's powerful enough to spur action.
June 6 - July 12, 2016
(No class the week of July 4)
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LENDING YOUR LEADERSHIP
This book encourages clergy to reclaim their role in community and to share a message of hope: God still cares and is involved in the life of individuals, families, communities, and the world.
SHAME-LESS LIVES, GRACE-FULL CONGREGATIONS
This book invites readers to become shame-less, so they can assist others in a congregational system to find a life of joy and grace.
THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF JESUS
This book walks readers through five key principles of emotional intelligence, illustrating these principles in the life of Jesus and offering practical applications for leaders today.
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"Oops! (Our site's now featuring early bird rates for Sourcing Innovation)" Alban Weekly from Duke Divinity School of Durham, North Carolina, United States for Monday, 2 May 2016
PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS
Sorry for the technical difficulties over the weekend. We've extended our early bird rates on Sourcing Innovation until Wednesday.
"Come with me on a journey..."
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JOIN VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGIST / FILMMAKER MARLON HALL FOR "SOURCING INNOVATION"
Chances are good that your institution needs to change in some way if it's to thrive (or even survive). You know it. You embrace the idea. But you don't know what to do, or even where to begin.
Join visual anthropologist and filmmaker Marlon Hall and a community of other Christian leaders for this five-week online course as we move step by step through the process of learning from a community.
Course Dates June 6 - July 12, 2016
No class during the week of July 4
Each week, you will read articles and watch short videos as preparation for some form of engagement with the community you select to observe. You will have tools to guide that engagement. Afterward, you will post written reflections and respond to other participants' posted responses, and then discuss these ideas further during an instructor-led online discussion.
Explore how to uncover and deeply understand your community's needs through careful listening and observation. Then translate those insights into a story that's powerful enough to spur action.
REGISTER
COURSE OBJECTIVES
COURSE STRUCTURE
Participants who complete this course will have done all the work necessary to enroll in Cultivating Innovation, a companion course on planning and testing designs for an innovative project (to be offered online in Fall 2016).
Learn more and register »
VISIT OUR WEBSITE
Alban at Duke Divinity School
"Oops! (Our site's now featuring early bird rates for Sourcing Innovation)" Alban Weekly from Duke Divinity School of Durham, North Carolina, United States for Monday, 2 May 2016
PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS
Sorry for the technical difficulties over the weekend. We've extended our early bird rates on Sourcing Innovation until Wednesday.
"Come with me on a journey..."
REGISTER NOW:
JOIN VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGIST / FILMMAKER MARLON HALL FOR "SOURCING INNOVATION"
Chances are good that your institution needs to change in some way if it's to thrive (or even survive). You know it. You embrace the idea. But you don't know what to do, or even where to begin.
Join visual anthropologist and filmmaker Marlon Hall and a community of other Christian leaders for this five-week online course as we move step by step through the process of learning from a community.
Course Dates June 6 - July 12, 2016
No class during the week of July 4
Each week, you will read articles and watch short videos as preparation for some form of engagement with the community you select to observe. You will have tools to guide that engagement. Afterward, you will post written reflections and respond to other participants' posted responses, and then discuss these ideas further during an instructor-led online discussion.
Explore how to uncover and deeply understand your community's needs through careful listening and observation. Then translate those insights into a story that's powerful enough to spur action.
REGISTER
COURSE OBJECTIVES
- Participants will learn practical skills in:
- Observing and interviewing without bias
- Distilling observations into a compelling narrative
- Giving and receiving productive feedback
- Participants will leave the course with:
- Written reflections about a community/place in which they spent time
- A vetted narrative that reflects the hopes and challenges of that community, which can be used as the basis for developing a future case for support or business plan
- The skills and experience needed to participate in Cultivating Innovation, a companion course on planning and testing designs for an innovative project (to be offered online in Fall 2016)
COURSE STRUCTURE
- Each week, you will read articles and watch short videos as preparation for some form of engagement with the community you select to observe. You will have tools to guide that engagement. Afterward, you will post written reflections and respond to other participants' posted responses, and then discuss these ideas further during an instructor-led online discussion.
- Time Commitment: ~4 hours/week for 5 weeks
- Mondays: New weekly content is posted (~20 minutes of reading material and/or videos)
- Tuesdays, 12 - 1 p.m. CDT: Participants will gather electronically for an online conversation, during which the instructors will offer expert reactions to the previous week's work and an introduction to the work of the week ahead. (1 hour)
- Wednesdays - Sundays: You will have 2-3 days to read the material and complete an assignment. The rest of the week is time for you to upload your work to the site and respond to others' work. While the timing is flexible, we encourage you to post your work by Friday in order to receive thoughtful feedback from other participants.(2-3 hours)
- This is a hands-on learning experience that thrives on group participation and feedback. Participation in all activities is expected. While assignments can be completed on your schedule over the course of the week, new assignments will not appear online until you have completed prior activities.
- Week 1 | Lead With Why
- Week 2 | Looking
- Week 3 | Listening
- Week 4 | Curating the Story
- No class the week of July 4
- Week 5 | Looking Back and Blessing Forward
Participants who complete this course will have done all the work necessary to enroll in Cultivating Innovation, a companion course on planning and testing designs for an innovative project (to be offered online in Fall 2016).
Learn more and register »
VISIT OUR WEBSITE
Alban at Duke Divinity School
1121 West Chapel Hill Street, Suite 101
Durham, North Carolina 27701, United States
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