The pastor’s work focuses on deep spiritual matters. What gives life and ministry meaning and purpose? Pastors are engaged in people and causes that are much bigger than themselves. At the same time, pastors need to tend to their own physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual self-care. As you walk the tightrope of the demands of ministry and juggle family and personal health, how do you as a single or mar-ried pastor maintain balance for effective ministry? How do you experience balance or unbalance as a pastor couple/family or as a single pastor? David and Janice Yordy Sutter will help us reflect on the importance of one’s personal well-being on the way to joy, strength, balance, and flexibility in ministry.
Sessions
Session One: Is anything worth more than your soul?
Many important things demand our time and attention. Jesus warns his disciples, “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Together, we’ll explore the vital importance of wholeness and self-care as pastors and spouses, and the temptations and mindset that cause us to think we should do otherwise. In ministry, who we are and what we are is the most important thing we offer as we serve God and others.
Session Two: How do you open yourself and your soul to be strengthened by God?
What are the strategies we can practice that help us to strengthen soul, heart, mind, and body? What are the regular rhythms that help us work toward balance in our lives? Dave and Janice will talk about some strategies and rhythms that have been helpful to them, as well as times when they have been out-of-balance and the ramifications. There will also be time to listen to what has been helpful to others in the group. Being faithful to our own journey toward wholeness is the best possible preparation for ministry.
Session Three: The practice of paying attention to yourself and to God.
How do we learn to listen to signals that point us to greater health and wholeness? What are the tools that can help us listen to our body, and to our soul, and to take action? What are the ways that God gets our attention, and how can we practice stepping aside to pay attention to the still, small voice? We’ll consider the leadership of Moses, and how God led him on his journey of paying attention.
Our speakers
David and Janice Yordy Sutter, pastors at Kern Road Mennonite Church in South Bend, IN are coming as our resource persons. David and Janice have been married for 30 years this August and in ministry to-gether for most of those. They are in their 24th year of ministry at Kern Road Mennonite where Janice serves as Pastor of Worship and Preaching and Dave as Pastor of Congregational Life and Vision. Prior to their minis-try at Kern Road, both served congregations in Colo-rado and Illinois. Janice was also interim pastor for two years in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Dave and Janice are parents of two sons; Ben, 20 and Brian, 18. Janice enjoys walking, baking, and cut-ting and arranging flowers from her flowerbeds. Dave enjoys yard and home improvement projects and is an avid Chicago Cubs fan. Together they and their boys have enjoyed traveling to national parks and historical sites across the country, going to baseball games, eating pizza, and watching movies.
Janice and Dave have a strong commitment to sup-porting marriages. They have done pre-marital and marital counseling for over 75 couples. Over the years they have also been invited to lead many couples’ re-treats, including several specifically for pastors and their spouses. Dave and Janice have a strong interest in this theme of finding balance for effective ministry and have worked intentionally at this in their years as a pas-tor couple and family.
