Congregation for Clergy

03/20/2025

I'm inviting pastors to our May workshop on "Can CBT Skills Make You a Better Pastor?" CBT has revolutionized counseling, and can do the same for pastors and their leadership. The workshop will focus on how:
• Our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors interact to positively or negatively affect our leadership.
• Our core beliefs about ourselves and others can influence our reactions.
• Thought distortions can unintentionally hurt our leadership and relationships.
• Unresolved trauma responses can impact our perspectives and plans.
• CBT techniques can reduce conflict and increase collaboration, . . . and much more.

Samaritan Counseling offers workshops that provide practical, applicable training for pastors on topics such as strengthening leadership, transforming churches, dealing with difficult people, preaching to members who are walking away, and more.

03/28/2024

Inviting Western PA pastors to join us for the 24th annual Pittsburgh Pastoral Care Conference on April 19th. I'll be doing a workshop on my book, "Preaching to Those Walking Away."

03/04/2024

Inviting any interested in taking part in our spring clergy workshop on "Nurturing Spiritual Experiences in Our Churches." The reality is that with so many claiming to be spiritual but not religious, we don't recognize their yearning for the spiritual:

Thurs., April 11, 2024 | 9am-Noon Sewickley Presbyterian Church, Lower Level Cost $15 Includes Light Refreshments

06/03/2022

It's finally here! My new book on how to preach in ways that speak to those walking away is finally available. Here's what sociologist and researcher on "church refugees," Josh Packard has to say about the book:

"As churches seek to adapt to an ever-changing world, they need new frameworks, not just more information. Preaching to Those Walking Away provides a new and compelling vision for preaching to a modern world, one that looks dramatically different from the one most clergy were trained to engage. Thought-provoking and well-considered, Standish’s latest book is an important read for anyone concerned about the future of the church.”
~Josh Packard, executive director, Springtide Research Institute, and coauthor of Stuck: "Why Clergy Are Alienated from Their Calling, Congregation, and Career . . . and What to Do about It"

Preaching to Those Walking Away

04/04/2022

Here's this week's Pragmatic Pastoring video, including a hilarious favorite skit by Bob Newhart playing a counselor, on how Prophetic leadership may be killing the church, and how being apostolic could resurrect it:

Is being Prophetic killing the mainline church? Dr. Standish explores how being an Apostolic leader, rather than Prophetic, is the Bible's model; and he expl...

03/14/2022

For pastors, we're offering a two-week workshop on March 31 and April 7 on "Overcoming Congregational Resistance", which is rooted in insights from group and family therapy, as well as over 34 years of actually overcoming resistance and growing churches and organizations.
https://www.samaritancounseling.net/pastors-workshops

03/11/2022

Here's Samaritan's most recent "Pragmatic Pastoring" video talking about how to form our authority out of relationships rather than position. It explores how the next generation of pastors/leaders can excel, and why so many traditional pastors are struggling.

Dr. Standish discusses an emerging form of pastoral leadership where arises out of relationships rather than position. And he helps us think through how to b...

02/16/2022

We're back and introducing the first of a regular series of short videos we're calling "Pragmatic Pastoring." These are designed to help pastors and leaders think and approach ministry differently. Our first one is on "Emphasizing Experiences," which explores how looking at our churches as communities of experience can make a huge difference:

In the first of a series of videos on pragmatic pastoring, we explore how leading a church to emphasize experiences over thinking or doing can make a differe...

12/20/2021

Our Clergy worship video for this week features a really funny message by Ralph Lowe and his kids on moving from agitation to patience, which includes them dancing. It also includes an incredible solo by Rachel Fagan of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." This is a great video to center pastors and others during this week of Christmas:

Great prep for the week of Christmas. Ralph Lowe shares for reflection a funny video he and his family made for Advent several years ago that teaches us an i...

12/13/2021

This week's Congregation for Clergy worship service features time for centering and prayer, and explores how getting back to the early church's understanding of salvation as "healing" rather than "saving" can revitalize leadership, ministry, and churches.

We continue our 3-part series on creating a more spiritual ministry by exploring how salvation = healing, and how an emphasis on healing can restore our lead...

12/08/2021

A little late in the week, but here's this week's clergy worship service. We explore discernment--both personally and in congregation--based on Graham Standish's 35 years of experience in doing it, leading a church based on it, and teaching others in it.

Listening to God (Discernment) is essential to creating a spiritually grounded church, but how do you discern. The Rev. Dr. Graham Standish, reflecting on a ...

11/29/2021

This week's Congregation for Clergy worship: we explore how adopting a spiritual approach much like Star Wars' "the force" can lead to coincidences, God-incidences, providences. We can have a ministry where grace flows through us, but only if have the courage and faith to adopt a more expansive spirituality than many of us do. It includes an experience that pushes us struggle with what's possibile:

Is there a spiritual "force" that can flow through our ministry? Is it possible to have a ministry of "coincidences." Dr. Graham Standish talks to us about h...