“Emotionally Healthy Activists take individual and corporate discerned, purposeful, contextualized, and loving action.”
Our emotional maturity and spiritual maturity are inextricably linked and must be core to a discipleship that is deep and wide. God is calling us as His disciples to preach the Gospel in word, deed, and power; to do that, we must grow in our spiritual and emotional health, awareness, and intelligence. To pursue that, we developed our Emotionally Healthy Activist Course and Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) Skill Sheets. We offer Fall/Spring Cohorts, along with monthly workshops. They are divided into three types of growth opportunities: orientation, training, and formation.
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These experiences are focused on introduction to material and exploratory conversations to grasp a concept. The information shared will help attendees to ultimately discern if the participants would like to integrate the skills into their contexts, identify appropriate opportunities, and unearth any internal and external barriers to personal growth, application, and integration. If there are no barriers, then the next step is training. If there are significant internal or external obstacles, then formation is the next step, if the desire and ability to apply the skill are present.
Ex. 30-minute workshop focused on one, standalone JEDI skill that is applicable personally and professionally. Half of the time is spent in orientation to the skill and the other half in identifying barriers and opportunities for integration.
Ex. A 5-10 minute video, one-pager, and audio version of the content is available via our learning platform, Spotify and website with monthly 45 minute Q & A follow up opportunities available.
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These experiences are focused on integrating a skill into your personal or professional life and developing the ability to teach the skill to others. Workshop times will include an overview of leaders’ meetings notes, best practices, and real-time modeling. Follow-up opportunities will also be available upon request.
Ex. Monthly, 45-minute workshops focused on one, standalone JEDI skill. We will work explicitly on identifying contexts where the skills can be integrated and rehearsing scenarios where it can be used so that attendees have the necessary information and modeling to run a meeting effectively on their own.
Ex. Monthly 45 minute Q & A sessions to troubleshoot, give feedback or coaching through difficult situations.
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After orientation to a skill, internal or external barriers may be identified that need to be addressed for a potential leader prior to having the ability to model a skill effectively. A longer term cohort OR one-on-one relationship may be necessary to ensure those barriers are overcome and the skill can be practiced effectively.
Ex. Once in the fall and once in the spring, cohort experiences will be offered to small groups of individuals who desire to go through our Emotionally Healthy Activist Course to address internal barriers to JEDI work, like speaking across differences and being open to learning. Over 6 group sessions and individual ones, through prayer, reflection, and rigorous interrogation of scripture and cultural narratives, we will push back against pride, narcissism, and hurry to pursue humility, selflessness, and prudence.
LISTEN
Our Emotionally Healthy Activist Podcast featuring our first 9 JEDI Skills is available on HERE ON SPOTIFY!
READ
The JEDI Skill Sheets have PDF’s that correspond with the podcasts, so if you prefer to read along, click below!
WATCH
(COMING SOON) For those of you interested in watching videos, subscribe to our YOUTUBE Channel so you get notified when they are live.
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Video | PDF | PODCAST Our 4R's are Rest, Restore, Resist, Repeat and make up framing for a Rule of Life. A rule of life is a set of deliberate thoughts and actions that mark the life of an individual or a faith community that help sustain prayerful resistance to the anti-trinity - the flesh, the world, and the Devil - for the long term. We like to say that Jesus is looking for disciples, not interns, employees, or assistants. The traditional image of a trellis creates the structure for plants like cucumbers or tomatoes to grow upwards and maximize fruitfulness. We, too, desire to grow in the healthiest way possible and remain fruitful. Like these plants, we need a structure to bolster our inner life with God to maintain our outer activity. We are human beings, not human doings.
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Video | PDF | PODCAST When entering a group discussion, hard conversation, or new experience, the Approaching Differences Diagram can bring our unacknowledged, unprocessed thoughts and feelings to the surface so that we can make conscious choices in light of our deepest values, and communicate them clearly with those around us.
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The goal of the Community Temperature Reading (CTR) is to see and hear ourselves, God, and one another more clearly, through slowing down to reflect on a shared experience. When discussing sensitive topics, this is especially important in maintaining trust and connection. In it, we can share our appreciations, puzzles, complaints/preferences, new information, and hopes.
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Our emotional maturity and spiritual maturity are inextricably linked, and core to a discipleship that is deep and wide - especially around the most pressing issues of our day. God is calling us as His disciples to preach the Gospel in word, deed, and power; and to do that, it is paramount that we grow in our spiritual and emotional health, awareness, and intelligence.
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Slowing down to reflect on the things that happen every day is important so that we are able to connect with ourselves, God, and one another. Leaders are often called upon to help groups or individuals do that in a way that leads towards growth in a certain direction or some shared goal or outcome. LEAPT, which stands for Listen, Empathize, Affirm, Point and Transition, is one way to shepherd someone or a group of people in conflict when there are time constraints, or if a structure is less flexible and a conflict arises that needs to be addressed.
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The first step towards emotional health is being able to name our feelings, along with where they come from. For some of us, this is easier said than done, so the Feelings Wheel helps us to put more precise words to what is happening inside so many of us. We use it to know ourselves and others well.
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“Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” One of the most loving things we can do for someone is to listen well to them. This type of holy attunement is called Incarnational Listening where we listen with a heart of Christ towards another person. This is not a tool for conflict resolution but to hear another person and be present to them without trying to convince and persuade or fix.
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Discernment is essential for our formation and discipleship, especially if we desire to seek God’s justice and mercy – not just fight for our own. As we seek to be ministers of reconciliation, one particular area of discernment that needs attention is knowing what draws us towards Christ and the Kingdom of God, along with what tempts us another way when we have goals in mind.
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Embracing humility, loving others, and becoming a non-anxious presence requires us to acknowledge that we do not know what we do not know. Acknowledging our lack of awareness, areas to learn and grow, as well as how those around us can help is the beginning of a transformational journey from self-referenced ignorance to Christ-centered wisdom. The Four Stages of Competency is a tool that helps pursue that goal.
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When we communicate with one another, we often have many thoughts and feelings underneath the surface. Frequently, we make assumptions and judge how we and those around us should or should not think, feel, or act. These judgments determine what is acceptable and what is not, and ultimately, who is good, valuable, and worthy; and conversely who is subordinate and disposable. This is especially true around topics like race, gender, class, and politics. SENDPEACE, an acronym, is a tool for awareness that helps us turn to wonder and curiosity instead of assumptions, stereotypes, and prejudice. SENDPEACE stands for: Sexuality, Ethnicity, Nationality, Divinity, Political Ideology, Education, Age, Class, Experience.
Thanks for stopping by! Please email jonathan.walton@intervarsity.org if you have any questions.