Follow me… Why should I?

We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. (Simon Sinek) In his TED talk Simon Sinek tells why the ‘why’ is important. Much more important than the ‘what’ or the ‘how’. I work for a Church. I think my job is about the ‘why’ but very often it has little to do Read More …

Recovery in the Church – from here to where?

I’ve been thinking a bit more about the Recovery Model as a helpful tool for churches. In this post I will consider three of the elements, that recovery: is a journey rather than a destination does not necessarily mean getting back to where you were before happens in ‘fits and starts’ and, like life, has Read More …

recovery is possible

It is possible to recover. It’s amazing how far people will go to disprove this, how powerful our negative voice can be and how programmed for fear we are. This negative perspective can overwhelm our collective planning and conversation. We do two simple things that ensure we almost always have conversations about negative things. The Read More …

a holistic approach to recovery

A holistic view In this section I want to look at the Recovery Model then begin to work through it point by point in the posts that follow. I realise that for some people suggesting an organisation is mentally ill is a bit of a leap but I want to assure you all that I’m Read More …

a mentally unwell church

In my series on Missing Generations I wrote about some of the organisation difficulties the church is experiencing, some of which are caused by the ways different generations think about the church, abut change and about development.  We tinker around the edges of change because we have an underlying lack of confidence in who we Read More …

Missing Generations (part 4)

I’ve been one for 20 years. It began around 1989 when I completed the Boys’ Brigade’s King George IV officer cadet training and became a BB officer. I’ve worked with young people and the adults who work with them for all of my adult life.  Most of this work has been in a church context Read More …

what if?

What if over the past 50 years an organisation had lost the majority of its members? What should it do?  What should it change? The decline in membership of the church in the UK has been well documented and plenty of words have been used on diagnosing the problem but I wonder how much time Read More …