Leadership Institute
About the Leadership Institute
Organizational Leadership
The Church & Society
Educational Leadership: The Bishop as Teacher
Spirituality & Personal Growth
Spirituality & Personal Growth
The College for Bishops Leadership Institute was established to provide educational resources for new bishops as well as trending informational resources for all bishops. Spirituality & Personal Growth focuses on specific resources such as:
New items are added monthly. To comment on current items or suggest additional topics and/or resources, please use the feedback form at the bottom of this page.
Work-Life Balance & Personal Growth
Why Don’t I Get a Vacation Too? How To talk about clergy sabbaticals
Reframing the pastoral sabbatical as a journey for the entire congregation can diminish resentment and help make regular periods of renewal a part of the Christian life, writes the director of the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs.
sabbaticals for ministers: the benefits for pastors & congregations
This booklet offers an overview of different types of sabbaticals, as well as detailing how sabbatical rest can be beneficial to both pastors and congregations. Practical suggestions for planning include financial considerations, interim leadership options, and policy samples.
Hard Work and the Good Life: A Vocational Audit for 2021
One of the most prevalent narratives of Western culture is that hard work is the way to achieve the good life. The past pandemic year has brought many opportunities to challenge our persistent beliefs about what a good life is and what work has to do with getting there. Here is an activity designed to help you dig into your assumptions about work, and then recognize possible changes you might want to make in how you approach your work and vocation. Think of it as a vocational audit for 2021.
Want To Help Your Resolutions Stick? Make This One-Word Change
When we double down on discipline and willpower, this rarely leads to the best results. When we’re compelled by a wagging finger instead of a willing heart, we end up in an internal tug-of-war between good intentions and less-than-stellar execution. Here is a simple way to turn those new year resolutions into sustainable results.
How to De-clutter and Organize Your Personal Tech in a Few Simple Steps
Tech hardware adds to the pile of junk that sparks no joy in our lives. Everyone has a drawer full of ancient cellphones, tangled-up wires and earphones that are never touched. And the things we do use every day, like charging cables strewn around the house, are an eyesore. So here’s a guide to tidying up your technology physically and digitally, including tips from professional organizers.
Multiply Your Time by Asking 4 Questions about the Stuff on Your To-Do List
Most of us manage our time the same ways: by writing to-do lists and prioritizing the items on those lists. We decide upon our priorities by assessing the relative urgency and importance of our tasks. But there’s a third criteria to consider: significance. Rather than asking “What’s the most important thing I can do today?”, ask yourself “What’s the most important thing I can do today that would make tomorrow better?”
Taming the Demon
We are a society almost totally under the power of the ceaseless, obsessive American work ethic. We forego vacation time, anxious to prove that we’re indispensable. We drive ourselves to burnout. The demon is chasing us over a cliff. Abbot Philip and his brother monks manage to tame the demon of this work ethic by limiting their labor while they pursue higher goods. We who live in what monks simply call “the world” need to learn their strategies for spiritual combat.
How to gain control of your free time
There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studies how busy people spend their lives, and she's discovered that many of us drastically overestimate our commitments each week, while underestimating the time we have to ourselves. She offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us, so we can "build the lives we want in the time we've got."
Committing to Mutuality: An Interview with Eugene Peterson
In this archived interview, Eugene Peterson discusses the trend toward "clergy self-care." He says the most important thing he did as a pastor was, rather than "protecting" himself from his congregation and their needs and demands, he sought to foster a collaborative relationship.
How to Use a Simple Pocket Notebook to Improve Your Life
At a time when technology seems to offer more and more ways to organize busy lives, this refreshing article credits the simple pocket notebook as the best way to gather and process the information overload we experience every day.