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Ministry
to Families Online Seminar Offered in March
In her presentation
on the "Faith Dimension of Family Life,"
professor Diana Garland asks, "What
charaterizes faith and spirituality in family life? In
what way is family a context for individual faith? Do
families themselves have a dimension to their life that
we might identify as 'faith'?"
This three
week online seminar will be offered March 3-21. Through
presentations and reflective dialogue participants
will explore pastoral strategies for families; addressing
the faith dimension of family life, the resilience
of families, and congregational responses to adolescents
in crisis.
Care
of Troublesome People and Integrating Spirituality
and Health
Among Seminars Offered in April
Through the three week online seminar, Care
of Troublesome People, learn how to approach troubled
and troublesome people in ways that are not dismissive,
but are caring, affirming, and grounded in God's grace.
This seminar, based on Dr. Wayne Oates' book, The
Care of Troublesome People, combines family systems
theory with insightful analysis of five types of behavior
that often create conflict in churches and suggests
biblically based approaches for dealing with such behavior.
Integrating Spirituality and Health is
a popular six week seminar that we typically offer in
the fall. This year we are adding the opportunity to
engage this integrative, interdisciplinary dialogue during
the spring session.
Other seminars being offered in April
include:
- Baseball, Ghosts, and Field of Dreams:
A Narrative Journey Toward Wholeness
- Hope as a Dynamic for Healing
- Human Values and Health Care
- The Power to Bless
Two
days left to register: Self Care for National Guard,
Reserve and Regular Army Chaplains starts Monday, February
25
After returning from a 12-month tour
of duty in Iraq in 2003, which included his unexpected
provision of temporary chaplain services near Al Fallujah,
Hugh Reusser wrote the following:
Having put yourself at risk as part of a daily military
effort to help stabilize an emerging democracy puts
a new perspective on what matters in life. You initially
think you know better what life is all about. Your
new perspective may make everyday events seem meaningless.
Upon your return, people's lives back home don't quite
fit like they used to. Your way of relating to the
world has been turned on its head as staying alive
and insuring the safety of others have become priorities.
Peaceful sleep and interactions with family members
and friends may be interrupted with worries about just
how vulnerable we are in our world, even in a country
that seems peaceful. Sharing your questions with those
around you creates friction and disrupts the relationships
that were "emotionally safe" before your
deployment. Keeping your questions inside brings uncertainty
about who you are and what you want to do with your
life.
Now That You Are Home:
One Soldier's Perspective on Loss
by Hugh Reusser, MSW, LCSW,BCD
Hugh is team leader of the Fort Wayne Veterans Center
and Army Reserve
medical officer/social worker for the 55thMedical Company,
Combat Stress Control.
If you are a National Gurard, Reserve, or Regular Army
Chaplain, you have 2 days to register and join the
peer group that will begin on Monday, February 25. This
program has been designed to address self-care and
to create opportunities for Army chaplains to interact
with colleagues in a “safe” environment
where there is no risk of retribution.
To join this group, email or call Vicki Hollon. (vicki@oates.org /
502-459-2370)
For
more information about this program, click
here 
Ministry
in the New World Matrix Workshop
Chris Hammon and Vicki Hollon will be leading
a blended workshop on Ministry in the New World Matrix:
Leadership in the Digital Age in April and May. The workshop
will begin with an onground retreat featuring Rex Miller
(The Millennium Matrix) the first week of April
in Virginia and will continue online through May. Workshop
participants consist of a group of congregational leaders
who are part of the RASNet Leadership Network. The Oates
Institute has the opportunity to invite one person from
our learning community to participate as our guest.
If you are an interested congregational
leader that can participate in the April 1-3 retreat
in Virginia as well as the April and May online interaction,
please email Chris
Hammon at the Oates Institute (click
here).
Subscriber
Bonus: "A
Point of View"
from Pastoral Counseling by Wayne Oates
"Pastoral
counseling is unique," wrote Wayne Oates, "in
that pastoral wisdom, developed through the history
of synagogue, temple, and church, refuses to permit
the therapeutic enthusiasms of the moment to enchant
the pastor with one side or another of the great
polarities that characterize human nature. ... By
insisting on acceptance of the ambiguity of human
suffering the pastoral counselor can make a separate
contribution of his own to the generalities of therapy." In
this chapter Dr. Oates identifies "the
paradoxical tensions which the pastoral counselor
affirms, accepts, and lives with in his counseling."
We
invite you to read this newly republished chapter in
the Center for Oates Studies to discover what Dr. Oates
identifies as the distinctive characteristics of pastoral
counseling. To access this article click on the link
below. If
you are not a member of the Oates Institute, we invite
you to read the full text of this article by subscribing
to Lifelong Learning @ Oates.Org, our eNewsletter
Click
here to read "A Point of View"
Non-members
Have
you Considered Putting the Oates Institute in Your
Will or Estate Plans?
If you would like information about putting
the Wayne E. Oates Institute in your will or estate
plans please contact Vicki Hollon, 502-459-2370 or vicki@oates.org.
