MEMBERS GROW SPIRITUALLY
MINISTRY IS NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART
Clergy are called to proclaim a spiritual truth that challenges many cultural values and risks tension among the membership. Both spiritual leaders and their communities want unity, yet most spiritual leaders are infected with a virus called integrity. The stress of ministry increases daily and the thought of adding racism to the mix can be viewed with natural hesitancy.
MY STORY
I often don’t know it at the time, but as I reflect back, I feel called by significant events in my life. My senior year in college, intending to enter seminary the next year, I was challenged to enter the recently formed Peace Corps and spent two years living in a Peruvian culture. My last year in Seminary, fully intending to serve a church in the inner-city, a lecture by the radical Stokely Carmichael again altered my journey. If I wanted to address racism, he said, don’t do it in the ghetto but go into the suburbs where racism gets its power. That set off a 50-year journey serving three predominantly Caucasian churches and growing in my awareness of the intricacy and toxic power of racism in our society. I draw upon that fifty years and my desire to keep a promise to Stokely Carmichael to address racism in our church and society. I offer lessons learned to support my courageous colleagues who continue to serve as pastors in a challenging era of ministry.
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BUILDING FROM THE BOTTOM UP
What I offer is a nine-module series drawn from my experience to provide concrete steps for how spiritual leaders can integrate anti-racism ministry into the spiritual leadership of their community. A key aspect of this strategy is that it seeks identify ways to draw upon member’s faith beliefs to build an understanding of the community’s calling in this area. Using the internet and community gatherings, the spiritual leadership draws upon basic beliefs to both build a strategy and courage among the membership to act on their faith and grow spiritually in the process.
MY OFFER TO YOU
If you are interested in exploring this possibility for your ministry, provide me your email address below and I will send you without obligation a pdf describing the strategy more completely and an opportunity for a risk-free phone call with me to explore whether my experience can support and strengthen your ministry.
If interested I will provide you with eight modules on how to implement the strategy and an hour consultation with you and your leadership to answer any questions raised by the modulesand how to tailor it for your particular religious community.
Yes, Steve, send the information to ______________________at (email) _____________________
Or go ahead and explore signing up at smccutchan.kartra.com/page/3free
CONTACT ME AT STEVE@SMCCUTCHAN.COM
