When Church Isn't Changing Us - Ruth Haley Barton - 237 - FrontStage BackStage with Jason Daye

Ruth Haley Barton explores why participation in church does not always lead to deep spiritual transformation and what our churches may be missing.

Pastors and ministry leaders devote their lives to helping people grow spiritually. Yet participation in church does not always result in the kind of deep transformation we hope to see in ourselves or in the people we serve. In this conversation, spiritual director and author Ruth Haley Barton joins Jason Daye to explore what we may be missing.

This question is deeply personal for Ruth. Years ago, she and a group of seasoned ministry leaders realized they needed space outside their own ministry environments to honestly attend to their spiritual lives and pursue the deeper transformation they longed for. That experience became part of a journey Ruth has now spent more than twenty-five years exploring through her work as founder of the Transforming Center, spiritual director, teacher, and author. Her newest book, Leading a Transforming Community, brings that experience directly into the life of the church and asks what it really takes to cultivate communities that are open to God's transforming work.

Together, Ruth and Jason discuss:

• Why years of faithful participation in church can still leave us spiritually stuck
• What ministry leaders risk when there is no safe place to be honest about their own spiritual lives
• Why genuine transformation may require something very different from making people comfortable
• How some of the ways we do church may actually work against the transformation we desire
• What changes when pastors recognize the limits of what they can produce or control
• Why the transformation of a church may begin somewhere leaders do not expect

This is not a conversation about adding another discipleship program or finding a better ministry strategy. It is an invitation for pastors and ministry leaders to consider what is actually happening beneath all the activity of church life, both within themselves and within the communities they lead, and how we can make room together for the transforming work of God.

Looking to dig more deeply into this topic and conversation? FrontStage BackStage is much more than another church leadership show, it is a complete resource to help you and your ministry leaders grow. Every week we go the extra mile and create a free toolkit so you and your ministry team can dive deeper into the topic that is discussed.

Visit http://PastorServe.org/network to find the Weekly Toolkit, including the Ministry Leaders Growth Guide. Our team pulls key insights and quotes from every conversation with our guests. We also create engaging questions for you and your team to consider and process, providing space for you to reflect on how each episode's topic relates to your unique church context. Use these questions in your staff meetings, or other settings, to guide your conversation as you invest in the growth of your ministry leaders.

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