Rev. Betsy Waters, Professional Coaching

Six Types of Working Genius – for Pastors and Churches

- Are there parts of your ministry you love and parts that you find exhausting?
- Is your staff and lay leadership energized and filled with joy – or do they need a boost?
- Are work teams effective in this time of rapid change?

Introducing Six Types of Working Genius – a simple, yet deep tool that describes the six phases of every project. The personal assessment provides instant self-discovery of the kinds of work that bring you joy and energy and the ones that burn you out. . It can bring small but useful changes in how you lead. When the team members do the assessment, learns of their individual and team profiles, and discuss how this effects their process, the team finds working together more enjoyable and efficient.

Want to try this out? Take the assessment for $25 and join a complementary group session to hear how this can apply to you, your church, your church staff, your lay leaders. Contact me for me information.

Here is a link to an introductory video

The Working Genius and Your Church with Patrick Lencioni The Working Genius can help us with so many parts of our work. But how does it uniquely apply to our work as church leaders? We asked Patrick Lencioni, best-...

Starting new clergy coaching groups. Family systems focused. Clergy listen as other clergy address self identified challenges with the the coach. It’s a great place to learn how to manage oneself better in the journey of ministry. And it often lots of fun. PM me for more information

There was a news story about the job market being impacted by people re-evaluating their jobs. I hear that theme within my own family. Is there a pick up opportunity for churches to invite community members into a reflective session about work, life-balance, life goal? Are we agile enough to move while this is a hot issue? The window to act is probably small.

Here's a great resource -- and free... for the time being. Lifelong Faith is GIVING away pdf's of its conference work for the last six years.

Featured Products Lifelong Faith

Fetzer Institute conducted a study on spirituality. I've included the link. They found a strong correlation between how much a person identifies as spiritual and their civic engagement. It's funny that so many churches don't want their leaders to talk about the political, even if the content is focused on Jesus. I wonder if this study has openings for folks.

What Does Spirituality Mean to Us? A study of spirituality in the United States

https://kathleensmith.net/tag/politics-and-anxiety/

politics and anxiety – Kathleen Smith, PhD Posts about politics and anxiety written by Kathleen Smith

Four ways to recognize a bully in your church It was five minutes before worship, and I was greeting people at the sanctuary entrance. The contemporary service was about to begin when a gentleman who usually frequented our traditional service came through the door. After seeing the stage (drums and guitars added, and traditional worship furnitu

A great idea to build on for Christian formation.

Household Huddle (9/13/2020) with the Oldtown Church Pastor Kelly walks families through the Household Huddle model, which is a way for families to spend time together building relationships and sharing their f...

What I am hearing about virtual worship challenges....

1. More people are coming to virtual worship and other offerings. These include people formerly involved in the congregation, family at a distance, local people of all ages. There seems to be an opportunity here. As some churches are or will soon offer in person worship, some are framing the challenge as a two point charge, thoughtfully considering the needs of both the virtual and in person groups and creating worship that includes something for both constituents.

2. Different congregations use different virtual worship offerings. These include -

*Facebook live - typically live streaming worship, sometimes organized in familiar ways from the sanctuary, sometimes filmed at home or in the backyard.
* Zoom - an intimate way to worship that often includes videos, both created locally and used from other sources. Zoom worship is often live-streamed on Facebook, while a recorded version may be posted on YouTube.
* Pre-recorded versions posted on YouTube. These often include videos - preaching and music -- from the sanctuary.
* (Free) Conference Calls, often with order of service sent out to the congregation in advance.

3. As congregations consider offering in person worship, there seem to be four categories of survey responses.
* Those that are eager (often agitating) to return to worship now.
* Some may be willing to return with high levels of caution and rules.
*.Young families are reluctant to return because they are not sure their children can comfortably manage social distancing with their children.
* Some will not return to in person worship until the virus is managed by a vaccine or and effective treatment.

4. Different approaches that have been use.
* In car worship, with the sound coming in over the car radio.
* Renting/ using local parks
* Worshipping on the church lawn with a check in, spray paint to mark space on the grass, careful procedures for exiting. One church opened the church windows so worshippers can hear the organ.
* Stating that the virtual service remains the primary service and in person was secondary.
* Having the in person, outdoor service as primary, recording it and putting excerpts on YouTube.
* Worshipping indoors with the windows open.
* Gathering worshipper to watch the virtual service in a group.

5. Observations and questions raise by attendees.
* Creators of worship are exhausted. Volunteers are burning out, pastors are having trouble doing all that is required. Finding ways to support current volunteers and recruit new ones is crucial.
* This time of disruption calls for reflection. Some of the topics for reflection: what it means to be church, the role of the pastor, ways to support people going into the world to do work of the church, should we be supporting Facebook given its other ethics.

Colleagues, if you need a place to process and plan, reach out for a zoom based coaching session.