3 Minute Ministry Mentor

Conflict in ministry is hard.

It is hard because it often feels personal. It is hard because it can evoke feelings like anger, self-doubt, fear or shame, feelings that are unpleasant to digest. And it is hard because change of any kind is often accompanied by some conflict.

Yet change is also essential for flourishing in ministry. And it follows that conflict is often one aspect of health and growth.

So how do we do we navigate conflict well?

This episode of #3MMM explores how we can reframe the normalcy of conflict. Rather than being something we seek out, or try to avoid at all costs, conflict is better understood as a regular and unavoidable byproduct of healthy change, renewal, and growth.

In this Episode of Three Minute Ministry Mentor, we explore DEFINING MOMENTS.

These kind of experiences -- emotional, uplifting and surprising -- help crystallize the defining moments in someone’s life. What are the defining moments, epic experiences, small or large, that have brought you to where you are at this point in your life?

#3MMM #definingmoments

#3MMM Episode 43: Facing Fear.

It can be hard even to admit our fears, much less face them. Fear of loss. Fear of disappointment. Fear of not getting what you want and fear of getting it.

Fear of walking down the street. Fear of making the wrong decision. Fear of staying in a relationship. Fear of leaving it.

Fear is a powerful motivator for action and inaction.

Fear can play a role in every aspect of the practice of ministry, in congregational life, in the work of chaplaincy, activism, college ministry, preaching, leading change, etc. Why? Because fear is human and humans are the heart of every ministry. 

#ministrylife #facingfears #womeninministry 

In Episode 42, Three Minute Ministry Mentor explores the idea of "blueprint stories." These stories that keep repeating themselves tend to function like a blueprint in your #practiceofministry.

Host Eileen Campbell-Reed tells a story that keeps repeating itself in her life, and calls us to recognize how our stories can impact our practice of ministry. 

#3MMM

#3MMM Episode 41: Two Vocations 

Vocation. Work. Calling.
Ministry. Family. Life. 

Vocation is a word that often evokes the idea of work. Yet vocation is not just work. Vocation may bring to the top of your mind the idea of calling. Yet vocation is more than calling. 

Vocation is often synonymous with ministry or religious service to the church. And yet vocation is not limited to working in or for the church.

New social configurations of family and work are emerging everywhere around us. This week, 3MMM Host Eileen Campbell-Reed reclaims these two aspects of vocation – work and family – as intertwined and mutually informing ways to approach our lives and obligations in the world.

Have a listen to Episode 41, and consider the survey some of the images and stories from the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project that can inform our understanding of the vocations of family and work.

Episode 40: Change over Time

By looking at the change over time that happens for others who are learning the same practices we are learning, there might be a way of making out at least a framework for change that is on our horizon.

Also, and not insignificantly, our own past experience may also give us hints and clues about what is coming next or what may shift for us over time.

The only way practices like learning, teaching, and ministry to lodge their best lessons in us, is for us to persist over time. So we move forward in trust, even if we cannot (and should not) leave our questions and suspicions aside.

This week’s video episode of #3MMM includes the story of David, a participant in the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project. He recounted changes that he experienced while learning to teach Bible study in his first congregational call. See if his missteps sound anything like yours?