You Can't Pour From an Empty Cup
- Rev. Bobby Musengwa
- 18 hours ago
- 2 min read
Rev. Bobby Musengwa
Transitional General Presbyter
This week some of us attended the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s interactive training on emotional and spiritual resilience. It was absolutely wonderful and appropriate for such a time as this.
Ministry is hard right now.
Pastors are navigating conflict, grief, and exhaustion. Ruling elders are carrying congregations through uncertainty. Leaders across Mission Presbytery are showing up for everyone else, often without anyone asking, "How are YOU doing?"
That has to change.
On Tuesday, June 16, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM Central Time, Mission Presbytery is partnering with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) to offer a free, 90-minute training called "Building Our Resilience."
This is not a lecture. It's not a webinar where you sit and take notes.
It's an interactive, honest conversation about the stress you're already carrying, and practical tools to help you handle it.
Here's what you'll walk away with:
Tools to recognize the signs of stress before they take you down.
In-the-moment strategies to help you stay grounded when things get hard.
Healing practices, including storytelling, relaxation, spiritual care, and strengthening connections with others.
And a personalized self-care plan, built by you, for you, during the session.
The PDA team knows ministry stress. They serve communities after hurricanes, wildfires, and mass shootings. They know what resilience looks like when it's been tested.
And they know it doesn't happen by accident.
Dr. Mitzi J. Smith reminds us that care for others must begin with care for self. She writes that communities of faith are called to "attend to the wounds within" before they can offer healing to the world outside.
That's exactly what this training is about.
This is for you if:
You feel like you're running on empty most weeks.
You say "I'm fine" when you're not.
You know you need better tools but haven't had time to find them.
You want to help your congregation build resilience and need to start with yourself.
The Book of Order reminds us that the church is called to "demonstrate the new life" God makes possible (F-1.0301). You can't demonstrate what you aren't living.
Resilience is not weakness. Asking for help is not failure. Showing up for yourself is an act of faithfulness.
Register now. It takes two minutes.
Tuesday, June 16. 6:30 to 8:00 PM Central. Free. Online.
Questions? Contact Kathy Riley, PDA Associate for Emotional and Spiritual Care, at Kathryn.Riley@pcusa.org.
Do this for the people you serve. Do this for the people who love you. Do this for yourself.
See you June 16.
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