STRENGTHENING INTER- AND INTRA- PERSONAL ASSETS
Developing and maintaining a healthy sense of self as shaped by God, community, and life experiences.
My sense of self is currently informed by spiritual practices, my work with my therapist and by my relationships, both within the church and completely outside the church setting. I named spiritual practices as a factor first because I sense a direct correlation between my prayer life, my writing and journaling and my yoga practice contributing strongly to my sense of self and purpose. Without the grounding of prayer, meditation, exercise and study, I tend to lose myself.
When I operate from that foundation, my relationships with my family, my friends, church members, and the congregation as a whole become more balanced and able to approach preaching, teaching and leading from an authentic and grounded place. With the help of CPW, I am learning who I am as a leader and also learning how to step into my power as well. I have also learned to set internal and external boundaries. Having the support and prayers of my congregation, the honor of teaching the children and youth and serving with church leaders, have fueled my growth as a person of faith and as a faith leader.
I cannot stress the importance of my personal relationships with my children, my wonderful fiancé, my friends, and my family. I am very involved in the community of Dubuque; from the yoga community, to the local live music and the art and culture community. I spend a lot of time outside the walls of the church building. Besides continuing to develop spiritual practices, my goal is to continue to develop my confidence and leadership skills as well as tend to my personal connections.
When I operate from that foundation, my relationships with my family, my friends, church members, and the congregation as a whole become more balanced and able to approach preaching, teaching and leading from an authentic and grounded place. With the help of CPW, I am learning who I am as a leader and also learning how to step into my power as well. I have also learned to set internal and external boundaries. Having the support and prayers of my congregation, the honor of teaching the children and youth and serving with church leaders, have fueled my growth as a person of faith and as a faith leader.
I cannot stress the importance of my personal relationships with my children, my wonderful fiancé, my friends, and my family. I am very involved in the community of Dubuque; from the yoga community, to the local live music and the art and culture community. I spend a lot of time outside the walls of the church building. Besides continuing to develop spiritual practices, my goal is to continue to develop my confidence and leadership skills as well as tend to my personal connections.
Exhibiting strong moral character and personal integrity.
I will be honest, the words “strong moral character” evoke some anxiety for me. I have struggled with brain health issues (depression and anxiety) that have been considered weakness by both myself and others at times. I was also a young single mother and often felt significantly judged by members of the religious community. While I understand that having and upholding morals does not equal self-righteous judgment, I still have some trouble relating to the term. Morality is objective. There are many things that were considered moral in the past that are considered immoral now.
Integrity, however, I understand; I know it when I see it. I define integrity as the process of getting to know yourself in order to become a fully integrated person. The more we know ourselves, the easier it is to do and say the things we mean and the more natural it is to do what we say we are going to do.
I believe that integrity happens when our actions are attuned to our beliefs, morals and values and when we live into the spiritual gifts we have been given by the Holy Spirit. I believe that integrity is essential to all who serve in ministry. A major reason I am thankful to call the UCC my home is that it is a space that values integrity and that honors our true selves. So many denominations expect ministers to hide aspects of who we are. How are we to minister to a hurting world in need of purpose and inspiration if we ourselves do not center on integrity?
Integrity, however, I understand; I know it when I see it. I define integrity as the process of getting to know yourself in order to become a fully integrated person. The more we know ourselves, the easier it is to do and say the things we mean and the more natural it is to do what we say we are going to do.
I believe that integrity happens when our actions are attuned to our beliefs, morals and values and when we live into the spiritual gifts we have been given by the Holy Spirit. I believe that integrity is essential to all who serve in ministry. A major reason I am thankful to call the UCC my home is that it is a space that values integrity and that honors our true selves. So many denominations expect ministers to hide aspects of who we are. How are we to minister to a hurting world in need of purpose and inspiration if we ourselves do not center on integrity?
Respecting the dignity of all God’s people.
I honor the dignity of all God's people for in all my ministry I have sought to create space for the unheard and disregarded. One way of fostering respect for the dignity of all God's people is to address instances of oppression in our world where respect is missing, by calling out and naming places where dignity is denied, explicitly or implicitly, and by intentionally working to create change and transformation. Wherever dignity and respect are denied by the world, it is my calling as a Jesus follower and as a Christian minister to affirm the inherent dignity of all who are created in the imago dei -the image of God.
People with brain health issues are often denied dignity by the world. Even in our churches, we often err by making people with brain health issues feel like outcasts. I am including here an annotated version of a worship service that I created in an attempt to offer one way to affirm the full dignity of those who live with brain health issues.
Brain Health Sunday Worship Bulletin and E-Mail brain_health_sunday_may_7_2023_worship_notes.pdf
People with brain health issues are often denied dignity by the world. Even in our churches, we often err by making people with brain health issues feel like outcasts. I am including here an annotated version of a worship service that I created in an attempt to offer one way to affirm the full dignity of those who live with brain health issues.
Brain Health Sunday Worship Bulletin and E-Mail brain_health_sunday_may_7_2023_worship_notes.pdf
Understanding and ministering to stages of human development across the life span.
I have ministered to persons across the lifespan throughout my call to ministry through serving as a Pastor and Youth Minister. I have extensive experience working with the elderly population both through my job at the church and through my training in dementia as a speech language pathologist. It is a tremendous and humbling honor to also work with persons and families throughout their seasons of life from baptisms to funerals and through community connections.
I am bi-vocational and am also a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. Communication is very important to me! I understand that people comprehend and take in information through a variety of modalities and those modalities are unique to each individual. I try to be mindful of how I am communicating and of my audience. I always try to have regular 1 to 1 meetings with the staff that I supervise and follow up on those meetings. I try to take the time to actively listen to members of the congregation and staff.