Here’s a wonderful toolkit from Interfaith Power and Light designed to help you start or continue a conversation about healthy food choices, environmental stewardship, and climate. The kit provides all you need to host your own event. (Photo: gina pina, Creative Commons)
Clergy Health – Our Ministry Together
We need healthy pastors to have a healthy church, but statistics show that clergy need help in this area. Designed for use by pastors and lay leadership, this three-part series seeks to illustrate some of the unique issues clergy face in maintaining and improving their physical, emotional, social, financial, and spiritual wellbeing. Through video and discussion guides, it encourages congregations and pastors to share a ministry of health that benefits everyone. (Photo by Dr. Abdulla Nasar, used by Creative Commons license)
Seminary Garden Feeds Body, Mind, & Spirit
Asbury Theological Seminary’s community garden is doing much more than feeding students. It’s become an important educational tool that includes a prayer garden, fire pit, preaching amphitheater, and nature path. (Photo: seminaryalliance.org)
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Unhealthy
Yep, new Barna Group research shows that Americans are concerned about their weight and unhealthy eating habits. Check out this article and ponder Paul’s words in Romans 7:15-17. How can we be better stewards of health and self? (Photo: Doc Searls, Creative Commons)
Plastic Purge
Want to know more about plastics, their effects on humans and the environment, and how to recycle them properly? Here’s a comprehensive article from UTNE Reader by Plastic Purge author Michael SanClements. You’re almost there. Click the title to be redirected. (Photo: Katherine Davis, Creative Commons)
The Delicious Invitation to Rest
“Sabbath is the day that I cease to see myself as a tool of production. And blissfully, I recover the scale and proportion of my life, even my own self,” writes Jen Pollock Mechel, in a guest blog on Christianitytoday.org. It’s a good read for all of us who think we’re too busy. (Photo by […]
Take the “Fed Up” Challenge
Have you seen the new documentary film Fed Up? Check out the trailer here. You can also join the “Fed Up” Sugar Free for 10 Days Challenge and access plenty of facts and useful information.
Free or Low-cost Getaways for Pastors
Leading a church is hard, hard work! Check out this list of great inexpensive or free places for pastors to go to relax. Compiled by Christianitytoday.com blogger Ed Stetzer. Thanks, Ed! (Photo by Mike Prosser, used by Creative Commons license. Thanks! )
Promoting Healthy Congregations
Health is a process, not a thing or state. It is ongoing, dynamic, and ever changing. Health is a direction, not a destination, a once-and-for-all property. Congregational leaders are the key stewards of the congregation as a unit in itself. (Photo by Antti Nissinen, used by Creative Commons license)
Dealing with Clergy Stress
Because of the demanding nature of their jobs, clergy are at greater risk for stress-related mental health issues, such as burnout, depression and “compassion fatigue,” according to health surveys. The United Methodist Church report talks about the risks and how some congregations and pastors are coping. (Photo by Bottled Void, used by Creative Commons license.)