Strength within Weakness

I am very appriciative to have many opportunities to learn and grow in minsitry leadership through a varity of classes, worshops, and groups.  Recently, I was able to learn more about Self-Differentiation and Anxiety in Leadship.  The following is a just a nugget of understanding on the topic of self-dfferentiation in minsitry leadership:

Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Emerson is describing self-differentiation—a term first coined by family-systems pioneer Dr. Murray Bowen. It’s the ability to “distinguish our experience from the experience of people we are connected to.” Self-differentiated people maintain a permanence of self even when they’re under duress—when failure or criticism try to hijack the God-breathed truth about them.
Self-differentiation matters because we live in a “cauldron of critique.” Ministry leaders can report a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month. And almost all say they've experienced some form of burnout in ministry—some would even say they're “fried to a crisp right now.”  
Jesus really was, (is) the most self-differentiated person in history, we need more of what He has.
In Matthew 15 alone, he...

• resists the Pharisees’ pressure to honor an “old tradition,”
• shunts his disciples’ fear that he’s offended these leaders.
• ignores cultural and religious restrictions and celebrates the extraordinary faith of a pagan.
• insists on feeding thousands, though others say it’s foolish.

​Jesus maintains the boundaries of his identity because God is never leveraged by critique. So, to access the self-differentiated strength of Jesus in our own “cauldron of critique,” we maintain a passionate, dependent focus on our relational understanding to him. We mindfully invite both his perspective on our anxieties and the determination to live free from their shackles. And we ask ourselves questions that motivate us to invite  strength into our weakness. 

It is a consistent and worthy practice to grow in self-differentiated leadership skills. 
​Much more to come...

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