We are in the midst of Charge Conference season! This is a very enjoyable time for those in our United Methodist connection who enjoy the process of identifying and electing laity to serve in various leadership positions, and for clergy who enjoy getting paid and having things like pension contributions and health insurance and other […]
Category: Claire…ification
Claire…ification: The Value of Mental Health First Aid
Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance use disorders. This course is described as being like CPR for someone experiencing a Mental Health Crisis. Based on the statistics, it is highly probable that all of us have someone in our family, a circle of friends, […]
Claire…ification – Scruples
Last week I was on vacation with family. One night we decided to play a game called “Scruples”. The game includes cards with moral dilemmas on issues of work, money, friends, family, neighbors, and relationships. When you play the game there are no “right” or “wrong” answers, rather the person asked must answer “yes”, “no” […]
Claire… ification – The Value of Increasing Intercultural Competency
Recently a team from the NC Conference of the UMC has been trained to become Qualified Administrators of the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory). The purpose of the team is to implement a tool that will build a bridge of intercultural competence to help the NCCUMC to achieve diversity and inclusion goals and outcomes. There are […]
CLAIRE…IFICATION: CHURCH BULLIES
We often talk about children who bully one another and the terrible implication it has on those being bullied, but we don’t tend to talk as much about adults who bully one another. To be sure, it takes place in all sorts of settings, but it’s time to talk about bullying in the church. Folks, […]
Claire…ification: Shame and Blame is Not Productive
Life would be so much easier if everyone would simply fall in step with what we want them to do, or think is best, or feel is right and timely. But we all know that’s not realistic. How we try to influence and encourage others to get on board matters. This is true whether it’s […]
Claire…ification: Expanding Our Theology
Last week, the NC Delegation met and our primary task for the day was to discern whom we might put forth as our Episcopal Nominee to be considered at the 2020 Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. As we interviewed Rev. Edie Gleaves (who we ultimately selected), one of the questions that we […]
Claire…ification: IF JESUS HAD ONE TWEET
Last weekend I attended the Wild Goose Festival and had the opportunity to experience lots of amazing preachers, teachers, musicians and other artists. One of the speakers, and I admit that I forgot to note which one, said something like “if Jesus only had one TWEET it would likely say something like “Everything, except […]
Claire…ification: GROWING INTO PATTERNS OF LOVE
If you ask any Christian, few (if any) would argue with the fact that we are called to love our neighbors. But, what that means varies greatly among us. The problem with the word “love” is that in our English language, it has all sorts of meanings. We use it to describe intense feelings […]
A Brighter Future for the United Methodist Church
In the wake of General Conference 2019, large numbers of people who have not traditionally been engaged in the life of the church beyond their local context began to feel differently. Since 1972 when discriminatory language was added to the Book of Discipline, the church has been divided over how inclusive we are called to […]
