There's a ticking time bomb in your ministry. Is it you? The pressures of pastoring are endless, leading many to burnout and depression, sexual misconduct, or substance abuse. But moral failures can be averted and shipwrecked ministries can be repaired. Counselor Michael MacKenzie, a longtime expert in helping pastors at risk, deals with the issues beneath the issues, such as shame, fear, and pain. If we don't address our own weakness and brokenness, we will hurt ourselves and those around us. With vivid pictures of both self-destructive patterns and reconstructive grace, MacKenzie shows how to lay the groundwork for restored identity and service. God can use those exact areas of vulnerability as a catalyst to you becoming the pastor and person he intends you to be. Defuse the bomb before it goes off. Find hope for healing and recovery.

Explore the story of the first Easter together as a family! The Easter Story is written for parents, grandparents and carers to share with their children through an interactive family Bible and prayer time. Each section provides a brief comment on the passage, questions to discuss, a visual aid to encourage engagement with the story, an activity idea, a prayer idea, a key verse and an Old Testament story link.

'Shh, new vicar might be listening . . .' As the newly appointed Vicar of Helmsley, David was looking forward to working in this picturesque market town, set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. Admittedly the vicarage, which dated back to the twelfth century, was extremely cold and damp. And not all of his parishioners were impressed by his new-fangled ways. But with the help of the irrepressible Father Bert, a retired cleric and one-time Tail End Charlie, David set about winning over the townsfolk. There was Lord Feversham, the local landowner who at times bore an unnerving resemblance to Henry VIII; fiery Ted, a retired chef who had fought with the Polish Free Army; Frank the singing shepherd, still working as he approached eighty, and redoubtable countrywoman Eva. All had stories of hardship and sacrifice, friendship and love. Charming and moving, Shepherd of Another Flock is a must-read for fans of authors like Gervase Phinn, James Herriot and Amanda Owen.

Proven Methods for Churches to Attract and Engage Young People One question faces every church leader looking to the future: How do we attract younger generations? Many things have been tried, but in this book, church consultant David Stark shares practical methods that have been proven to work in a variety of congregations. Stark helps leaders identify and use their church's strengths to engage millennials, even those with negative views of Christianity. Based on principles that built the church of the New Testament, he shows how churches today can reach out to their communities in ways that align with the natural, positive interests of young people.

Series Information:
Clinical Counselling in Context

Drawing on the writings and wisdom of Henri J. M. Nouwen's themes of caregiving, Marjorie J. Thompson offers a vulnerable exploration of caregiving intertwined with both her own many years of intimate caregiving of family members and collected stories of caregivers in varied settings and stages of life. While not shying away from the demanding physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of caregiving, Courage for Caregivers also celebrates the gifts of caregiving grounded in the belovedness both caregiver and care receiver share in God's eyes. Practical leader guides and resources make Courage for Caregivers a tool that moves smoothly from individual encouragement to group and congregational ministry to develop support for the universal experience of caregiving.

Gain scientific and theological insight into OCD The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Pastoral Care for the Road to Change delivers a provocative and stimulating discussion that is meant to inspire new areas of inquiry on this subject. As an OCD sufferer, pastoral counselor, mental health student, or professional, you will reach a new understanding of a complex condition that can destroy the day-to-day lives of its victims.The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder explores the connection between religion and OCD from many different perspectives. You will explore case studies of OCD with religious connections through interviews, diagnosed symptoms, and discussion of the history of religious figures who suffered with OCD. The book also provides a reference list of organizations that focus on OCD, as well as Web sites and Internet addresses devoted to assisting caretakers and helping sufferers.The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder will increase your knowledge of: the evolution of humans and animals in relation to personality development and the obsessive-compulsive disorder church leaders with the obsessive-compulsive disorder brain development and biology and their links to the obsessive-compulsive disorder quality of life issues for sufferers, pastors, and caregivers group therapy for OCD sufferers, including personal stories of OCD in connection with faith and religion neurobiological perspectives on theological issuesThe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder brings you insightful new research into this complex mental illness, and will assist you in understanding and helping people who suffer from OCD.

This step-by-step guide to breaking the bondage of your past will give you a deeper understanding of the concepts and themes from 21 Day Inner Healing Journey. Through 21 days of powerful teaching, honest reflection, and guided prayers, you'll find freedom from sin, pain, and shame, and learn how to live in the fullness of God's love and grace.

Understand the spiritual and psychological stages of human life Life Cycle: Psychological and Theological Perceptions provides professors and students of religion, pastoral counselors, and parents with a description of human personality development from birth to death from both psychological and theological perspectives. You will examine how personalities develop and unfold as individuals grow and how they are influenced by family members and by God, helping you view the life cycle as a sacred journey. Life Cycle will help you, as a parent, to understand your children better, and as an individual, to gain a meaningful perspective of the unfolding of your own life. As a pastoral counselor, this book will help you to enlarge your comprehension of developmental problems and solutions, enabling you to better help your parishioners develop healthy spiritual identities. Through this insightful book, you will discover the natural process of development through life-stages such as the Age of Works, the Age of Friendships, and the Age of Discovery. This unique book will help you in your pursuit of self-discovery.Within these pages you will: examine the history and theories of personality development from such theorists as Freud, Erikson, and Sullivan to get a solid foundation for understanding the process of identity formation understand theological as well as psychological views of personality development. realize the impact of the family unit on the development of individuals learn to recognize the stages of human development and see how the integration of theology and psychology can clarify them Life Cycle includes a comprehensive bibliography on the subject of development, as well as beautiful and moving poems that depict personal growth to help describe new concepts and help you to better understand important identity issues. This informative book will help you clearly define the stage of life that you or the person you are trying to help is in and identify the stage where problems originated, giving you the necessary information to begin to problem solve and promote healthy spiritual and mental growth and balance.

Explore a new way of pastoral care that enables caregivers to develop relationships and provide meaningful pastoral care to the children and youth they encounter The Pastoral Care of Children focuses on the need for pastoral caregivers, clergy and chaplains to develop relationships with youths and gives you suggestions to overcome the anxiety associated with caring for an acutely ill child through unique, playful, and child-centered approaches. Many pastoral caregivers have high anxiety when children are ill or hurt, are unsure how to have a substantive conversation with a nine-year old, or their fears of what could be said keep them from hearing what children have to say. The effective approaches in The Pastoral Care of Children are illustrated to assist you with serving the spiritual needs of children. You will explore actual pastoral care experiences that will help you gain confidence in handling situations such as a teenager 's desire to be baptized out of fear of death when neither he nor his parents believe in Christ. Intelligent and heartfelt, this valuable book gives you a complete theological exploration of ministering to children who may ask you "Why me?," "Why do people have to die?" and "What happens to children if they die before they are baptized?" The Pastoral Care of Children helps you answer these questions with meaningful responses that are genuine and grounded with yourself, and reflect the parents'beliefs. Some of the help you will discover in The Pastoral Care of Children includes: understanding the similarities and differences of caring for children in comparison to adults, such as different vocabularies but similar emotions, and realizing that children are very perceptiveusing play as a tool, for example referring to a puppet 's experience in reference to the child to eliminate the child 's self-consciousness and help him or her open upconfronting pastoral issues in acute care settings, such as fear, guilty feelings, and anger, from parents, family and the childhelping children recover from mental health issues such as depression, eating disorders, and identity and self-esteem issues by using cognitive therapyconducting prayer and rituals with children such as baptism, naming ceremonies, anointings, and funerals to assist the child and family through this spiritual rite of passage Complete with child and family focused approaches for dealing with the questions surrounding death, The Pastoral Care of Children also provides you with several cited scriptures, and a list of questions you may be asked by a child who is facing death. You will learn from actual circumstances pastoral caregivers have encountered and discover how to approach topics, and answer questions on God and death. The Pastoral Care of Children, an extremely resourceful book that will assist you in overcoming anxiety and help you deliver thoughtful and uplifting pastoral care to children and youth.

Describing the difficulties of balancing a career and family life, The Pastor's Family: The Challenges of Family Life and Pastoral Responsibilities is a personal narrative that discusses the all-too-familiar practice of neglecting your family for your job. Pastors will learn the importance of balancing time and attention between their families and religious careers by exploring the problems caused by one pastor's prolonged absence from home. Containing research and first-hand experiences, The Pastor's Family calls for a change in ministry policies that will enable pastors to devote as much time to their families as they do to their congregations.Containing stories and anecdotes from the author, his wife, and his two children, this book offers suggestions on how to improve the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of a pastor's family. The information and insight provided by The Pastor's Family will also help pastors'wives realize that they are not alone in their demanding roles and will help church policymakers discover the need to improve relations between the congregation and the pastor's family. With the hope that the universal problems of pastors'families will be revealed, the author shares with you methods that have helped bring him and his family closer together, including: understanding the expectations of the stereotypical "superpastor" and learning how to set boundaries between family life and career realizing that a pastor's family is subject to the same problems and challenges other families face and helping your family deal with this pressure learning the various definitions of codependency and how this can attribute to the neglect of your family discussing the history of abuse of pastors'families through the Bible and famous religious figures recognizing the discrimination of a pastor's wife and her sufferings, such as coping with her husband's various psychological challenges and being expected to always help her husband with his career discovering how conflicts can provoke communication, release emotions, identify and clarify problems, and permit individualization understanding why people feel a loss of power or personal rejection when their requests are not grantedEmphasizing the practice of setting boundaries, The Pastor's Family examines ways to promote assertiveness through self-talk and self-differentiation that will help you defeat codependent behavior. This will teach you that it is all right to say "no"-- that it is all right to do things for yourself. From The Pastor's Family, you will learn how to correct the ideology that makes many pastors feel they must honor every parishioner request, despite the effect it will have on his family. Through stories of hardship and personal revelations, this book will help you realize the need for church policy reforms that will allow pastors to be looked upon as humans who have familiesbesides their parishioners.

Describing the difficulties of balancing a career and family life, The Pastor's Family: The Challenges of Family Life and Pastoral Responsibilities is a personal narrative that discusses the all-too-familiar practice of neglecting your family for your job. Pastors will learn the importance of balancing time and attention between their families and religious careers by exploring the problems caused by one pastor's prolonged absence from home. Containing research and first-hand experiences, The Pastor's Family calls for a change in ministry policies that will enable pastors to devote as much time to their families as they do to their congregations.Containing stories and anecdotes from the author, his wife, and his two children, this book offers suggestions on how to improve the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of a pastor's family. The information and insight provided by The Pastor's Family will also help pastors'wives realize that they are not alone in their demanding roles and will help church policymakers discover the need to improve relations between the congregation and the pastor's family. With the hope that the universal problems of pastors'families will be revealed, the author shares with you methods that have helped bring him and his family closer together, including: understanding the expectations of the stereotypical "superpastor" and learning how to set boundaries between family life and career realizing that a pastor's family is subject to the same problems and challenges other families face and helping your family deal with this pressure learning the various definitions of codependency and how this can attribute to the neglect of your family discussing the history of abuse of pastors'families through the Bible and famous religious figures recognizing the discrimination of a pastor's wife and her sufferings, such as coping with her husband's various psychological challenges and being expected to always help her husband with his career discovering how conflicts can provoke communication, release emotions, identify and clarify problems, and permit individualization understanding why people feel a loss of power or personal rejection when their requests are not grantedEmphasizing the practice of setting boundaries, The Pastor's Family examines ways to promote assertiveness through self-talk and self-differentiation that will help you defeat codependent behavior. This will teach you that it is all right to say "no"-- that it is all right to do things for yourself. From The Pastor's Family, you will learn how to correct the ideology that makes many pastors feel they must honor every parishioner request, despite the effect it will have on his family. Through stories of hardship and personal revelations, this book will help you realize the need for church policy reforms that will allow pastors to be looked upon as humans who have familiesbesides their parishioners.

What is depression, and what are its many and varied types? Who becomes depressed, and how can it be recognized? How can depression be measured, and what are its suicidal potentialities? What are the therapeutic interventions the pastor can use in helping people who are undergoing the pain of depression? The Pastoral Care of Depression: A Guidebook answers these questions and many more. With a focus on the pastor as an instrument of healing in cooperation with families, physicians, and other mental health professionals, this book will help you understand some of the current research and procedures used in helping people suffering from depression. As the frontline mental health workers in many communities, pastors need confidence, competence, and skill in handling people with emotional problems. As Author Binford W. Gilbert explains, "Depression is among the most treatable of major illnesses. It enters the realm of the spiritual and demands the best of the pastoral leader to guide, assist, and enhance the struggle for peace and soundness of mind and body." The Pastoral Care of Depression helps caregivers by overcoming the simplistic myths about depressive disorders and probing the real issues. This book covers: a thorough description of clinical depression predisposing factors that may lead to depression the need for a multidisciplinary approach, and the role of the pastor on the treatment team the importance of church and family involvement diagnosis--the ability to distinguish between normal grief, ordinary blues, situational depression, and clinical depression ministers'own emotional, physical, mental, and relational health the pastor's privileged role that gives him/her unique abilities and opportunitiesA valuable resource for pastors, chaplains, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, family members, and teachers of pastoral care, The Pastoral Care of Depression is meant to inspire action-oriented counseling; to establish cooperative relationships between ministers, families, and the medical community; to carry out responsible and innovative creative therapeutic interventions; and to treat the whole human being.

What is depression, and what are its many and varied types? Who becomes depressed, and how can it be recognized? How can depression be measured, and what are its suicidal potentialities? What are the therapeutic interventions the pastor can use in helping people who are undergoing the pain of depression? The Pastoral Care of Depression: A Guidebook answers these questions and many more. With a focus on the pastor as an instrument of healing in cooperation with families, physicians, and other mental health professionals, this book will help you understand some of the current research and procedures used in helping people suffering from depression. As the frontline mental health workers in many communities, pastors need confidence, competence, and skill in handling people with emotional problems. As Author Binford W. Gilbert explains, "Depression is among the most treatable of major illnesses. It enters the realm of the spiritual and demands the best of the pastoral leader to guide, assist, and enhance the struggle for peace and soundness of mind and body." The Pastoral Care of Depression helps caregivers by overcoming the simplistic myths about depressive disorders and probing the real issues. This book covers: a thorough description of clinical depression predisposing factors that may lead to depression the need for a multidisciplinary approach, and the role of the pastor on the treatment team the importance of church and family involvement diagnosis--the ability to distinguish between normal grief, ordinary blues, situational depression, and clinical depression ministers'own emotional, physical, mental, and relational health the pastor's privileged role that gives him/her unique abilities and opportunitiesA valuable resource for pastors, chaplains, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, family members, and teachers of pastoral care, The Pastoral Care of Depression is meant to inspire action-oriented counseling; to establish cooperative relationships between ministers, families, and the medical community; to carry out responsible and innovative creative therapeutic interventions; and to treat the whole human being.

Why does our past pain have a way of terrorizing us and keeping us in fear, while baiting us with the lie that we will never experience healing, freedom, or love? Though many of us can point to patterns of brokenness in our lives, we don't know why they're there. No matter how hard we work, we can't seem to outrun the very things that break our hearts. That's because our everyday setbacks are rooted in our unaddressed wounds. Guided by seminary-trained licensed trauma therapist Kobe Campbell, Why Am I Like This? will help you develop courage as you dare to turn your heart toward your brokenness, uncover uncomfortable truths, and learn how to invite God into your past and present pain as you move from the terror of trauma into the tender embrace of the Father. In Why Am I Like This?, you will: gain an understanding of what trauma and healing really are, explore the roots of your dysfunctional patterns, learn how your trauma shows up in your everyday life, and find trauma-informed, faith-based coping mechanisms to heal your mind and deepen your intimacy with God. You already know that God is good. Here, you'll discover that He's good to you. You already know that God responds to the cry of His children. Here, you'll see just how he responds to your cries of desperation, hopelessness, and despair. Healing won't look like what you thought it will be, but it will come, and it will be beautiful.

Resourcing Rural Ministry offers an in-depth exploration of the key aspects, challenges and opportunities of mission in a rural church. Relevant for ordained and lay leaders alike, the book covers subjects ranging from encouraging evangelism in a multi-church group to making best use of church buildings. Containing a wealth of real-life case studies and suggestions for follow-up, this ecumenical publication draws on the expertise and resources of the Arthur Rank Centre (ARC), which has served the spiritual and practical needs of the rural Christian community for over 40 years. This book contributes to ARC's Germinate programme of training, development and support for rural multi-church groups of all denominations. Resourcing Rural Ministry was first developed by Simon Martin as Training and Resources Officer at the ARC. Additional chapters have been contributed by the Revd Caroline Hewlett, Rona Orme and Becky Payne and the final text has been prepared and edited by Jill Hopkinson. 'This book is packed with helpful resources and background theology that will aid the rural church to be a vibrant and relevant presence in today's society.' Revd Peter Ball, Mission and Training Officer, Eastern Synod of the URC 'Read these contributions and you'll be excited by a wealth of experience, insight and resource.' Rt Revd James Bell, Bishop of Ripon

The relationship between pastor and parishioner is the essence of pastoral counseling--a simple truth with profound implications. Dr. Richard Dayringer explores these implications in The Heart of Pastoral Counseling: Healing Through Relationship, Revised Edition to help pastoral counselors understand how to use the relationship to bring about the desired ends in the therapeutic process. Drawing on research from the disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, marriage counseling, family therapy, and pastoral counseling, this book lays the foundation for utilizing the pastoral counseling relationship to bring about positive change as it explores topics such as observation, listening, communication, handling transference, and termination of therapy. Because the interpersonal relationship is the vehicle of therapy, it is critical that pastoral counselors understand the psychological assumptions that play a large part in the characteristics of relationships as well as the factors requiring attention in order to establish a secure counseling relationship.The Heart of Pastoral Counseling will help you attain this understanding as you also improve your knowledge on: how pastoral relationships may be applied outside the therapeutic hour in general pastoral work eclectic methods for clarifying feelings, developing intellectual insight, interpreting, questioning, and assigning certain behavior employing the problem-oriented record in pastoral counseling distinguishing relationship from transference and countertransference the unique problem that counseling acquaintances presents personality traits that attract people to the minister/pastoral counselor counselor attitudes that foster relationship how a client's view of the counselor has an impact on the effectiveness of therapy The Heart of Pastoral Counseling brings a solid base of research to pastoral counselors, seminary students, graduate students in counseling, professors of counseling, and specialists in pastoral psychotherapy so that you might better understand the nature of pastoral counseling relationships and how they are helpful and constructive in people's lives.You will be challenged to rethink your role in initiating and carrying out therapeutic change and realize why you should build your ministry on relationships, rather than on friendships.

Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family: A Pastoral Care Approach enables grief counselors, pastors, hospice specialists, hospital chaplains, mental health practitioners, educators, and seminary students to bring an understanding of faith development, family systems, and gender and ethnic differences into their professional practice as they work with dying and grieving persons. No other book covers all these themes. Not only a great resource for practical guidance, this book is also meant to be provocative, suggestive, and stimulating to professionals and educators charged with working with and teaching about dying and grieving persons.With 50 years of providing pastoral care to dying and grieving persons and 30 years as a pastoral educator, George Bowman understands the nature and concerns of dying and grieving persons. In Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family he answers the questions you should be asking yourself--including: How does faith development affect relationships of the dying person and family and friends? How does faith development affect grief management by the survivors? How does the family systems approach help the pastor or counselor work with dying persons and their survivors? What gender and ethnic issues are important to remember in helping to minister and serve persons in crises of dying and grieving?The value of Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family lies in its approach to dying and grieving from the perspectives of faith development, family systems theory, gender, and ethnicity. Bowman 's unique work proposes that personal development and faith development influence the way one deals with the crises of dying and grief work.

Until now, the church has been unaware of the need for ministry to those suffering from pregnancy loss. At a time when approximately one in four pregnancies ends in loss, the need to understand and provide caring ministry is painfully obvious. Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss introduces the religious community to the issue of pregnancy loss and describes the ministries that can be helpful to those who experience these tragedies. Effective ministry in pregnancy loss requires that one develop basic life theories in order to prepare for such in-depth care. Thus, the book is more than a "how to" as it explores why there is suffering and why some suffer more than others, how to find grace when God seems far away, how to minister when we don't have answers, and how religious ministry can consistently work with other helping professionals in support of the individual. With the foundation of ministry theory provided by Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss, you can help your faith community develop strategies for ministry to those suffering from pregnancy loss. Numerous case studies illustrate what is usually done wrong in providing pastoral care in these difficult and delicate situations and explain why those who experience loss may blame themselves, why they may blame God, and why they may not feel able to return to church. Providing helpful insight to hospital pastoral care departments, church libraries, funeral directors, counselors and psychologists, nursing and obstetrics professionals, and seminaries with a marriage and family ministry specialty, this book provides readers with information about: three types of pregnancy loss--miscarriage, still birth, and neonatal loss church outreach the grieving process victims as "consenters" or "experiencers" the spiritual needs of those suffering loss practical ministries crisis support and long-term support.Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss furthers your understanding of pregnancy loss by enumerating theories on how suffering and loss are viewed by those suffering--either as a time of testing, a time of training, a mystery of God, a sign of punishment and warning, or as having no meaning. The book also shows how pregnancy loss affects five different types of personal relationships and discusses both immediate and long-term concerns of providing pastoral care. From helping the victim find meaning or reason for the loss to providing support in preparing for future pregnancies, this book provides much-needed guidance to an often-neglected ministry.

Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family: A Pastoral Care Approach enables grief counselors, pastors, hospice specialists, hospital chaplains, mental health practitioners, educators, and seminary students to bring an understanding of faith development, family systems, and gender and ethnic differences into their professional practice as they work with dying and grieving persons. No other book covers all these themes. Not only a great resource for practical guidance, this book is also meant to be provocative, suggestive, and stimulating to professionals and educators charged with working with and teaching about dying and grieving persons.With 50 years of providing pastoral care to dying and grieving persons and 30 years as a pastoral educator, George Bowman understands the nature and concerns of dying and grieving persons. In Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family he answers the questions you should be asking yourself--including: How does faith development affect relationships of the dying person and family and friends? How does faith development affect grief management by the survivors? How does the family systems approach help the pastor or counselor work with dying persons and their survivors? What gender and ethnic issues are important to remember in helping to minister and serve persons in crises of dying and grieving?The value of Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family lies in its approach to dying and grieving from the perspectives of faith development, family systems theory, gender, and ethnicity. Bowman's unique work proposes that personal development and faith development influence the way one deals with the crises of dying and grief work.

Usually when we speak of service we refer to something done for the benefit of others. But in both languages of the Bible, Greek and Hebrew, ministry and service are the same word - ministry is service to God and neighbour. These ten studies, covering examples from Genesis to Revelation, explore service in a variety of contexts: family, creation, society, the city, neighbours, relationships, the church and the workplace. They examine examples of service that were motivated by imagination, passion, faith, hope and love.

If most pastors were pressed to describe an average day of ministry, they'd have trouble doing it. In a single day, a pastor may fill many different roles in quick succession, from counselor to theologian to student to CEO to custodian (well, let's hope there's usually someone else available to perform that last role). Some roles come more naturally than others, but every pastor wants to perform each role to the best of their ability. In The 10 Key Roles of a Pastor, church consultant Gary L. McIntosh shows pastors how to - understand and juggle their many essential roles - prioritize their time and energy - manage their people's expectations of them - and empower others to take up the vital work of the church body Pastors just starting out in ministry, as well as those who have been at it a while and find themselves overworked and overwhelmed, will value this practical resource. It is also an enlightening read for those in church leadership who would benefit from understanding the pressures their pastor faces on a daily basis.

Featuring insights from the perspective of both a pastor and his wife The Pastor s Family identifies the complicated burdens and expectations ministry brings to the life of a family. Brian and Cara Croft identify the unique challenges that pastors face as husbands and fathers. They also discuss the difficulties and joys of being a pastor s wife and offer practical advice on raising children in a ministry family. In addition to addressing the challenges of marriage and raising children, they also highlight the joys of serving together as a family and the unique opportunities pastors have to train their children and lead their families.

With discussion questions for use by couples and pastoral reading groups, this book is ideal for pastors and their spouses, pastoral ministry students and their wives, as well as elders, deacons, and others who wish to remain faithful to the care of their families while diligently fulfilling their calling in ministry. The Pastor s Family equips pastors with time-tested wisdom to address the tension of family and congregational dynamics while persevering in their calling."