Council for Health and Human Service Ministries

From the President

Photo of Bryan Sickbert On August 15, nominations to the 2007 Diakonal Minister class are due. You can find the form to nominate yourself or someone else, here, where you can also learn more about the Diakonal Minister program and the Class of 2007 schedule.

Now in its tenth year, the Diakonal Minister course of study augments managers' professional and subject-area job skills with study in eight areas that research has identified as essential to successful leadership of faith-based health and human service organizations:

  • Passion for justice
  • Spiritual integrity
  • Change leadership
  • Sense of vocation (call)
  • Ethical reflection and action
  • Covenant building skills
  • Faith-values foundations
  • Organizational skills.

Based on program evaluations, we know that the Diakonal Minister program is successful in educating participants in these eight areas. But beyond the documented proof of tangible outcomes that any leadership program must provide, the value of the Diakonal Minister program is best expressed in the stories of spiritual longing and fulfillment written by the each year's class members. The exchange of these stories and the honest discussions that they provoke are the beginning, for many participants, of a rich year-long process of discernment and deeper calling to health and human service ministry.

Shirley Nelson, coordinator of Diakonal Minster program, and I welcome your questions about becoming a Diakonal Minister or nominating a colleague whom you think would benefit. Please email or call Shirley at 216-736-2254 to find out more.

In closing, and in the hope that you might spend some hours of this waning summer reflecting anew on your own vocation for our shared ministry, here are three excerpts from writing by the Diakonal Minister Class of 2006:

"'Live the questions now...'—Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet. Living a question allows for exploring the possible answers through experience. It is not adequate to solely engage in intellectual debate and reasoning; one must experience life, test out possibilities, see what works, what fits, to know whether one is on the right track."

"Change is inevitable. However, any change is difficult and there are certain risks to changing things. And there is where the courage lays, to allow things to remain as they are or take the risk to implement the necessary changes required. Change often involves complex questions that do not have ready-made answers. A person may resolve one issue only to create new conflicts and problems that were not originally anticipated. As a result, some people will take a path of least resistance and remain in their comfort zones. However, to be courageous in implementing change is not the absence of being afraid, but doing what one is fearful to do."

"I started taking charge—as the co-designer of my life, no longer a victim of life's random circumstances. I became self-responsible. I was learning that developing a positive attitude can change beliefs, and thus change experiences.

And I learned the importance of my thoughts and that by controlling those thoughts I could control the quality of my experiences in life. I can attract the good stuff into my life.

I have found several ways to help control my thoughts:

  • Read uplifting materials--the Bible and other spiritual works
  • Carefully select the music I listen to
  • Surround myself with positive people and avoid those that are gossipy, negative thinkers
  • Take a few minutes everyday (usually as I drive to work) to make a mental list of all the good things that are currently in my life. If I can detect the positive things, I find that I will begin to notice that they expand in my awareness. Life is much sweeter if I note the fact that I am healthy, have a wonderful family, have good friends, live in a great country and have the opportunity to enjoy the sunset once in awhile.
  • I also think about the things I want to attract into my life because what I think about expands, so I think about what I want--not about what I don't want.
  • Engaging in the art of gratitude helps me shift my mindset into one of abundance and prosperity."

Bryan W. Sickbert
President/CEO

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