Richard Bromley 

---

I hope this finds you well as you minister on in such challenging times. If you are anything like me, there is a background noise of tiredness and having to push a little harder to get things done. I found myself this morning singing 'Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice', not in rejoicing, but determination!

In this Nourish News I want to mention Lent material. 

All the best.

Richard

---

Nourish the Mind

Leading, ministering, serving in international churches and chaplaincies is exhausting, it takes a lot of energy.  Globalisation changes what it means to be an effective leader.  We minister in multicultural churches and chaplaincies where people respond differently to authority, leadership, and conflict. 

Based on her work at INSEAD, the 'Business School for the World' based in Paris, Erin Meyer decodes how cultural differences impact international leadership. Her book, The Culture Map, is one of those you will see in airports around the world. You can see her here explaining her work. 

If you want to dig deeper into these challenges and the energy it takes to navigate conflict in this line of ministry, then Cross-Cultural Conflict: Building Relationships for Effective Ministry by Duane Elmer is worth a read.

Nourish your Ministry

Donald Millar wrote Blue like Jazz some time ago and then disappeared, or so I thought. I am reading his excellent book’ Building a Story Brand that Paul Vrolijk recommended. It is delightedly insightful into how we communicate our message. You can watch a podcaster apply this to churches, here.  It is very American focussed, but once you get into it there are some helpful reflections.

Secondly…

I was at a clergy training day with Isabelle Hamley last week at Coventry Cathedral. She went thought this material she has produced for Lent, Live Lent Embracing Justice. I was really impressed by the insights and some content that I had never considered before. A worthwhile lent course if you have not chosen one yet. Details below.

Each year at the start of Lent, Christians are challenged to turn away from sin and towards new life. Together we acknowledge that our own lives, our communities and our world stand in need of God’s redeeming and transforming power.

Live Lent: Embracing Justice is the Church of England’s theme for Lent 2022. It invites us to examine our own lives truthfully, to see the world more deeply and to pray – for the church and the world far and near – that ‘justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’ (Amos 4.24).

• The adults' edition offers a daily Bible reading, a short reflection and a prayer, as well as a practical challenge for each day of Lent. Each week follows a different thread through the many stories of justice in the Bible to explore how God works with humanity to bring justice, wholeness and salvation to all.
• The kids' edition provides a fun daily action to help children and their families explore how we can live well together, as well as a weekly reading and prayer.

Both booklets are supported by a wide range of free digital resources for individuals, groups and churches available via the Church of England website.

Nourish Your Soul By Adriënne Strengholt-Ester

Prayer in the Night by Tish Harrisson-Warren was published last year and is the Christianity Today Book of the Year. For those who Work, Watch and Weep. With Compline as a red thread in the book, Tish talks about vulnerability and suffering. She describes times and situations we can all identify with when we feel lost and lonely in the dark. When we have no words the ancient prayers, that have been prayed by many before us, give us the words to carry us and comfort us.

“She says: I have started to see sorrow as part of our daily experience of being human in a world that is both good and cruel.  And I have discovered that faith is more a craft than a feeling and prayer is the most important practice to develop that craft.”

When she looks at her congregation on Sunday, she knows that there is so much suffering present in that group alone when she thinks of all the individual people's stories. 

This book has been a great read for me personally but also to recommend to others. In the back it has discussion questions as well which makes it very suitable for study groups too. 

Other reviews in case you are not convinced already to buy this book…

Christianity Today Book of the Year: How can we trust God in the dark?
Framed around a night-time prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren, author of Liturgy of the Ordinary, explores themes of human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence. When she navigated a time of doubt and loss, the prayer was grounding for her. She writes that practices of prayer "gave words to my anxiety and grief and allowed me to reencounter the doctrines of the church not as tidy little antidotes for pain, but as a light in darkness, as good news."

Where do we find comfort when we lie awake worrying or weeping in the night? This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.

How can we trust God in the dark? Framed around a night-time prayer of Compline, Tish Harrison Warren explores human vulnerability, suffering, and God's seeming absence as she recalls her own experience navigating a time of doubt and loss. This book offers a prayerful and frank approach to the difficulties in our ordinary lives at work, at home, and in a world filled with uncertainty.