Prompted by rising health care costs and looming clergy shortages, the church is recognizing health as an important issue.

Reprinted from the Fall 2002 issue of Divinity, the alumni magazine of Duke Divinity School

By Bob Wells

Dr. Gwen Halaas, a family physician in Kenosha, Wis., is concerned about a patient, a middle-aged professional whose case has drawn all her time and attention. She describes the case in the same concise format she learned years ago at Harvard medical school:

A 51-year-old male with symptoms of depression, the patient has high blood pressure and is overweight, presenting a heightened risk of heart disease and other illnesses. He works 60-70 hours a week in a sedentary job, does not currently engage in any physical exercise, and reports considerable work-related stress. Patient is married, with three children, one of whom expresses interest in following patient’s career path. Patient expresses little enthusiasm for encouraging child to do so.

While the case history may sound routine, Dr. Halaas and her patient are, in fact, remarkable – perhaps even historic. That’s because the patient is not a specific individual, but a statistically based overview of the typical Lutheran pastor. And Halaas is the project director of the Ministerial Health and Wellness Program, a major new initiative by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to improve the health of Lutheran pastors and other church leaders.

What makes her work especially significant, however, is that her patient’s condition does not differ substantially from that of clergy in just about every Christian denomination today. Doctrinal and theological differences aside, North American churches have in common not only the Cross and a love of Christ, but also a pastorate whose health is fast becoming cause for concern.

Prompted by rising health care costs and looming clergy shortages, some denominations are recognizing health as an important issue. A few – most notably the ELCA, the American Baptists, and the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada – have launched efforts within the past year to improve clergy health. Others, including the United Methodist Church, are following the issue with great interest. Click here to read the rest of this article at Pulpit & Pew.

Check out these titles for some great reading on leadership.

• Arbinger Institute. (2002). Leadership and Self-Deception. ISBN: 978-1-57675-174-9.
• Kouzes and Posner (2006).  A Leader’s Legacy. ISBN: 978-0-78798-296-6.
• Malphurs, A. (1996). Values-Driven Leadership: Discovering and Developing Your Core Values for Ministry. ISBN: 0-8010-9015-6.
• Steinke (2006). Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What. ISBN: 1566993288.
• Heifetz, Linsky and Grashow (2009). The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World. ISBN: 1422105768.
• Ford (2008). Transforming Church. ISBN: 1434767043.
• Sanders (1998). Strategic Thinking and the New Science: Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexity and Change. ISBN: 0684842688.

Click over to the “Pastoral Arts” tab for more reading on all the core pastoral arts: preaching, teaching, leading, and caring.

Click over to the “Grant Recipients and Experiences” tab for updated lists of the activities Covenant pastors, missionaries, and chaplains have been able to participate in through the benefit of Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grants. SPE continues to award individual grants along with coordinating re-visioning retreats and new study cohorts around the pastoral arts of leadership, teaching, and preaching.

More information about SPE grants can be found at www.covchurch.org/spe.

The Spring Re-visioning Retreat, held in Texas, just concluded. The week was one of rest, reconnecting with Jesus, and some beach adventures. The Mustang Island Conference Center proved to be a great site for our group of Covenant pastors, missionaries, and chaplains. At the conclusion of the week, one pastor commented that they had been in ministry for over 20 years and this retreat was like no other. “It went deep. It was personal. It was much needed,” they said.

Here are some pictures from the week:

To learn more about the SPE Re-visioning Retreats, visit www.covchurch.org/spe/constancy.

Leadership Education at Duke Divinity maintains an archive of interesting articles that are relevant to many aspects of ministry. Current offerings include:

• Maturing missions
• Followers: The Five Types
• Discerning Decisions
• Rendering Unto God

Visit the online Faith & Leadership site, or click here to read these, and other, articles.

This week, The Alban Institute’s Howard Friend tells the story of a pastor who, slowly but surely, tends his new and colorful congregation through painful but necessary change, helping them to remember their own stories of faith and involvement in church. Read the article here.

The current issue of Duke Divinity School’s Faith & Leadership Newsletter highlights several interesting articles, including a look at churches’ and Christian organizations’ efforts at living through the current economic crisis. Crisis and faith, by David Gibson

Also featured are articles about Christian Leadership, functioning in the tension between tradition and innovation, and a new study that shows recent immigrants being welcomed by predominantly white churches.

For more from Faith & Leadership, visit their web site: http://faithandleadership.com/.

Faith & Leadership is a publication of Duke’s Leadership Education initiative, which is funded in part by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Faithfulness, longevity, and fidelity are nurtured through a personal state of wellness – issuing out of a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. The SPE initiative encourages ministers to consider nurturing this relationship through a retreat experience designed to encourage healthy patterns and habits of renewal.

Visit the “Retreats” tab of this resource page for suggestions of places to retreat, or consider applying for a space on the spring Re-visioning Retreat this May. Visit www.covchurch.org/spe/constancy for more information about grant funding for retreats, or to download an application for the re-visioning retreat.

The Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence at Samford University is offering a limited number of mini-grants of up to $2,000 to existing SPE peer groups. About half the grant funds will be awarded to SPE groups submitting proposals for enrichment activities at the Resource Center, located on the Samford campus in Birmingham, Ala. The remainder of the funds will be used to support proposals from SPE peer groups for activities and opportunities offered through SPE sponsored or initiated organizations.

View full article here.