Book: The Resilient Pastor: Ten principles for developing pastoral resilience

Ministry is challenging, complex, and costly. Too many pastors and church leaders are getting spread thin, burned out, and walking away! In an ever-changing church culture that includes social media, blurred denominational lines, and an increased demand for relational ministry, many pastors are feeling overwhelmed, becoming discouraged, and dropping out of leadership roles. You may be one of them--but you are not ready to give up. The Resilient Pastor will help you to focus on character development and spiritual formation as a Christian leader, engaging the challenges of ministry with passion and perseverance. You will explore ten principles for developing pastoral resilience and consider biblical examples as well as testimonies from contemporary leaders as you lay the foundation for becoming a resilient leader. This journey through The Resilient Pastor will be worth your time as an individual leader or in a small group context with other pastors.

Contents 
Develop intimacy with God
Invest in Mentoring Relationships
Pursue Your calling daily
Focus on Core Values
Recognise Your Strengths
Accept Your limitators
Maintain boundaries
Maintain emotional stability 
Reject erroneous messages
Embrace Grace

Book: Dignity and grace living with dementia

Discovering how to live with dementia

"I'm a stranger in a strange land," sighed the dignified gentleman Janet L. Ramsey met walking down the care-center hallway. Those words, her first glimpse of the confusion that comes with dementia, led her into a lifetime of work with older adults.
If you have been diagnosed with dementia or you are accompanying someone with this illness, you may find yourself on a journey that began with a sudden diagnosis and an acute sense of panic. Or perhaps your journey started gradually, as you noticed changes in yourself or in your partner or parent. Whether sudden or gradual, the impact of a diagnosis of dementia reorganizes a family's entire life.
Drawing on her own experience as a pastor, teacher, therapist, and family caregiver, as well as on interviews with eight family and professional caregivers, Janet L. Ramsey helps caregivers and those with impaired memories learn as they listen to each other. She also shows them how the Holy Spirit can awaken their imagination and understanding while they discover how to live with dementia.

Book: Counselling and Christianity five approaches

What does authentic Christian counseling look like in practice? This volume explores how five major perspectives on the interface of Christianity and psychology would each actually be applied in a clinical setting. Respected experts associated with each of the perspectives depict how to assess, conceptualize, counsel and offer aftercare to Jake, a hypothetical client with a variety of complex issues. In each case the contributors seek to explain how theory can translate into real-life counseling scenarios. 
This book builds on the framework of Eric L. Johnson's Psychology & Christianity: Five Views. 
These include:

• the Levels-of-Explanation Approach, 
• the Integration Approach, 
• the Christian Psychology Approach, 
• the Transformational Approach 
• the Biblical Counseling Approach. 

While Counseling and Christianity can be used independently of Johnson's volume, the two can also function as useful companions. Christians who counsel, both those in practice and those still in training, will be served by this volume as it strengthens the connections between theory and practice in relating our faith to the mental health disciplines. They will finally get an answer to their persistent but unanswered question: "What would that counseling view look like behind closed doors?"

Visit here to buy Counselling and Christianity five approaches

Book: Survive or Thrive

In Survive or Thrive Jimmy Dodd reveals that the majority of pastors are not known—by anyone. They purposely isolate themselves from both staff and congregations so their insecurities, doubts, and failures aren’t exposed. Yet confiding in the wrong person can be a dead-end at best and disastrous at worst. Former pastor Jimmy Dodd reveals how those in pastoral ministry can receive ongoing support, accountability, and restoration from a boss, counselor, trainer, mentor, coach, and good friend.
Discover how you can move from surviving to thriving with the six relationships every pastor needs.

Contents
Section 1:  SURVIVE: The heart of the problem - How did we arrive here?
Section 2:  THRIVE:  The six relationships every pastor needs
Section 3:  GOSPEL TRANSFORMATION:  Taking all important next steps

Video Series: Ed's Story

Ed’s Story is a documentary about Pastor Ed Dobson’s recent life of suffering with ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2000, and given a short time to live, Ed Dobson wrestles with the issues that suffering brings, like worry, identity, forgiveness, gratitude, and healing. But in the midst of his disease, Ed finds hope. Not the kind of hope that ignores suffering, and not the kind of hope that minimizes or bypasses suffering, but the kind of hope that can only come from acknowledging and engaging honestly with suffering. Ed’s Story is a seven-part short film series that takes an intimate look at Ed’s journey with ALS, and inspires us all to become the kind of people who find hope in the midst of difficult circumstances.

The series includes
IT AIN’T OVER
Become the kind of person who can find hope in the midst of difficult circumstances.
In It Ain’t Over, the first film in the Ed’s Story series, Ed Dobson reminds us that life isn’t over yet and that we don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the struggles we’re facing today. Difficult news can sometimes make us feel like our lives are over. Ed shows us that we don’t know the future, and that things may turn out quite differently from what we expect.

CONSIDER THE BIRDS
Sometimes we worry too much about the future.
Ed stopped making plans more than two weeks out after his ALS diagnosis. Why? Tomorrow is not guaranteed—for any of us. When we worry about tomorrow, we often miss out on the beauty, richness, and fulfillment of today.
Could living for today be what’s best for us, and could it even free us from the worries of tomorrow?

BE THERE
When those close to us suffer, it’s only natural to want to help. But what do you say when someone’s life falls apart and suffering becomes their reality? How can you show you care?
The people who comforted Ed most were the ones who just showed up and didn’t say a word.
Perhaps just being present can bring more comfort, peace, and a sense of God’s presence than words ever could.

MY GARDEN
Many of us find our identity in what we do. But what happens when our career comes to an abrupt end? What happens when that job is no longer there? Are we still ourselves? Does our identity change?
A pastor for many years, Ed struggled to adjust to a life without the pulpit. He eventually discovered there is much more to who we are than what we do. Could it be that change is an opportunity for a renewed sense of purpose?

ASK FORGIVENESS
When Ed was told that his life would be over in a few short years, he found his priorities drastically rearranged. He wanted to mend relationships that may have been broken. He decided that relationships were way more important than who was right and who was wrong.
Ed discovered that forgiveness is an issue that requires humility. He also discovered a transforming experience for all involved. Could the power of forgiveness lead to a better world around us?

GRATEFUL
Many people start each day with a list of things to accomplish. But it’s possible to get caught up in this list; to anticipate how things will go and actually feel entitled to each of our days. As if they are owed to us.
It wasn’t until Ed was forced to slow down that he truly began to see all that he has been given.

HEALING
Tragedy reminds us what little control we have over life; we are always at the mercy of something other than ourselves. As Ed shares, perhaps acknowledging this lack of control is the key to really understanding the notion of healing.

For more information and to buy the videos visit http://edsstory.com/

eBook: Running on Empty - 60 Devotions for Church Leaders

Churches have always been busy places. Pastors and Church leaders are often over-worked and under-appreciated. They are usually busy doing so many things for God and others, that they forget or neglect to recharge their souls and refresh their spirits. They are often running around on empty because they selflessly give so much of their time, talents, and energy.
This book is for all of brothers and sisters in the Lord, who tirelessly and sometimes relentlessly, do God’s work in the churches they serve and the communities where they reside. All of them are heroes because of their commitment and conviction, their fortitude and faith, especially in turbulent times.
John Stuart has written sixty short devotions that will only take five minutes to read, reflect upon, and pray. They can be used on a daily basis or for weekly times of reflection. Pastors and leaders can read them alone, share them with their peers or use them for staff devotions. His intention is to help, encourage, and sometimes challenge those who are called to serve Christ in the Church and world. Each devotion contains a Bible verse, devotion, questions for reflection, and a short prayer. There is also an art illustration, which John has drawn and created, for meditation.

Article: A ministry of the mundane

The life of a pastor is filled with high spiritual moments, but it’s mostly conducted in the quiet, ordinary routines of church life.  Daniel Darling

This article, A ministry of the mundane,  explores the reality of pastoral ministry for many that there are far great number days of the mundane than the magnificent...

Brochure: Coping with Grieving

Helping people with grieving is one of the key pastoral care areas for many congregations and pastors.
This brochure 'Coping with grieving' is a summary of the grieving model from Granger E Westberg and has been used to people to understand what happens when we grieve.

The book Good Grief provides more detail about Westberg's model

 

Article: The blessing of chaplains in sport (and school and work)

Chaplaincy and pastoral care value at times can be questioned...however fortunately there is an increasing understanding of the blessings and benefits of chaplaincy and pastoral care.
Recently in Australia the senior coach of the Adelaide Crows Football Club, Philip Walsh, was allegedly killed by his son.   This devastated many people as Philip Walsh had been an assistant coach at a number of clubs.
As result of this tragedy the work of the chaplains became very apparent...take a moment to read the article...why a hard working chaplain can be a blessing to an under pressure football club 

If you are interested in sports chaplaincy visit Sports Chaplaincy Australia

Book: Counsel from the cross

Counsel from the cross demonstrates the "why" and the "how" of consistently biblical, gospel-centric counselling, whether in the pastor's study or over coffee with a friend.

With the evermore apparent failure of modern psychotherapies and a discomfort with
pharmacological strategies, many churches are reaffirming the sufficiency and power of the Scriptures to change lives.

To aid churches in ministering to broken and hurting people, the authors of Counsel from the Cross present a counselling model based on Scripture, powered by the work of the Wonderful Counsellor, Jesus Christ. Through careful exegesis and helpful case studies, they demonstrate the "why" and the "how" of consistently biblical, gospel-centred counselling.

The authors' combined backgrounds-one, a woman trained in biblical counselling and the other, a male professor of practical theology-bring balance to this work, making it relevant for those who counsel as part of pastoral ministry and for those involved in friendship mentoring or discipleship.

Reviews
"A triumph of a maturing biblical counseling movement. Elyse Fitzpatrick, a counselor with uncommon insight into common problems, teams with Dennis Johnson, a seminary professor with a firm fix on justification and the centrality of the gospel, to produce a cross-centered counseling tool. Expect to find the refreshing intersection of the liberating truth of the cross and the power of the gospel to move counselees and impart hope. This book is a major contribution not only to biblical counseling but also to the person in the pew."
—Tedd Tripp, pastor, author, international conference speaker

"Broken people remain so because they never truly understand the nature or extent of God's love. Following the pattern of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, this book triggers worship and hope with exhilarating descriptions of the gospel of Christ and shows us how to live out the love and freedom of the gospel in the relationships and struggles of everyday life. May God use this book to bring a wholeness and joy to believers that is irresistibly attractive to everyone around them."
—Ken Sande, President, Peacemaker Ministries

"Fitzpatrick and Johnson teach that effective counseling for broken and hurting people does not mean walking beyond the gospel into some modern form of psychotherapy, which ultimately provides no solutions. All Christians, especially pastors, counselors, and church workers who yearn to see genuine healing and transformation in their families and churches, should practice the principles of this book personally and use it to help others. This book is biblical counseling at its best; absorbing its teaching will make us all better counselors."
—Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

"A treasure of gospel-proclaiming, biblical, and practical help for every person striving to grow in grace and help others to do the same. Professional counselors, church leaders, and laypeople will all benefit from the accessible case studies drawn from the authors' decades of experience ministering to real people in real situations. This is no mere how-to manual. If seemingly hopeless cycles of sin and immaturity are tempting you to wonder if real change is even possible, Counsel from the Cross is just the book to encourage you and help you to remember both what the gospel declares about us and what it demands of us."
—Tara Klena Barthel, Author, Living the Gospel in Relationships; coauthor, Peacemaking Women

"Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson present a compelling case for the very radical and eminently practical power of the gospel in helping counsel broken people. One will not find here the usual Scriptures taken out of context or mere proof-texting approach that so-much of Christian counseling has offered the evangelical community. Instead, Johnson's exegetical insights and Fitzpatrick's case-wise counsel show how and why we must apply the love and grace of Christ at each stage of our counseling. They are to be praised for mining the riches of the gospel and offering a real model for and recovery of Christ-centered counseling."
—Alfred J. Poirier, Author, The Peacemaking Pastor

"I've learned more about biblical counseling from Elyse Fitzpatrick than from anyone else writing in the field today. I tear into her new books, and return repeatedly to them for inspiration in my own work. Elyse's collaboration with Dennis Johnson has produced a volume that is both theologically astute and full of practical wisdom. I'm already applying the principles I've learned from it in my counseling."
—Laura Hendrickson, Author; Psychiatrist; Biblical Counselor

See
Amazon Customer Reviews
From christianfaith.com

Persecuted Christians -their story and praying for them

Open Doors provides some comprehensive information relating to persecuted Christians around the world.
Their web site includes:

• COUNTRY PROFILES
• CURRENT NEWS
• WORLD WATCH LIST
• MEET THE PERSECUTED
• CHRISTIAN MARTYRS
• REVIVAL IN CHINA
• PRISON RELEASES

Pastor Burnout web site of resources

Pastor Burnout - The Silent Ministry Killer
Pastor burnout is a weapon the enemy uses with great efficiency. It is surprising in its simplicity but brutal in its impact. Burnout begins by encouraging us to do what we do best – minister to people. But as we serve, subtle conflict infiltrates our minds.
At first, confidence leads us to some great expectations. But those very expectations are the seeds of our own downfall. Why is it that we develop such an idealistic portrait of ministry and our own abilities?
Failure to meet these expectations leads to disappointment and confusion: "Am I doing this right?" "Why am I not seeing the results I should be seeing?" "Why did he get so angry about this?" "Am I really prepared to do this?" "I never knew ministry was like this." "I am going to work harder." "Maybe I need to look for a different church." "This isn’t what I thought being a pastor would be like."
It’s very logical, when you think about it.
Peter states that Satan is prowling around looking for someone to have for lunch (1 Peter 5:8). As pastors, we know that many people in our congregations are vulnerable to these attacks. That’s why God put us in their lives. Hebrews 13:17 states that pastors keep watch over the souls of people in their congregations. And Peter teaches that we are to care for our congregation like a shepherd cares and protects his sheep (1 Peter 5:3).
So if you want to harm the flock, you first need to attack the shepherd.

The Pastor Burnout web author  tells his burnout story:
I remember the exact point I hit bottom. I was staring into a bathroom mirror with a bottle of sleeping pills in my hand. A voice of reason began to speak… but a second voice interrupted, "Don't think, just swallow. Don’t think, just swallow."
And I did.
I assumed one bottle of prescription sleeping pills would do it. But just in case, I pulled out a second bottle and gulped those down as well.
The next few hours are a blur. But I do recall my wife sitting next to me in the hospital. And I can see her face as she said through tears, "We're going to get through this."
Pastor burnout doesn't always lead to suicide, of course. But whoever and wherever it strikes, clergy burnout leaves a path of discouragement, disillusionment, and pain.
I burned out twice in ministry.
The first time, I didn't know what was happening.
The second time I knew what was happening but seemed powerless to stop it.
The first time, I denied that I had a problem.
The second time I thought I could control it.
Both instances led to problems in my marriage, challenges in my church, and clinical depression.
The major difference between the two experiences is that the second time I burned out, I left church ministry altogether.
I'm years removed from those experiences now, but I still struggle with the pain, shame, and grief of pastor burnout.

The pages on the Pastor Burnout web page are really a therapeutic labor of love. They come from a person who has been to the bottom and am making their way back to the surface. They are  not really sure that life will ever be like it was before. And they are not sure they would want it to be even if they had a choice. For as God promises, he took their misery and created something good out of it. They were broken, wounded, suffering in pain, but God is redeeming their hurts and using them for his glory.
That’s what the website Pastor Burnout is all about. They want to help pastors avoid if possible – or negotiate with hope the dark pathways of pastor burnout.
If you or someone you know wants to prevent burnout, or if you need help working through the darkness, this site is for you. This is a place where you can remain completely anonymous but still be part of a community.
This is a community of people who understand. We’ve been there. And while we don’t have all the answers, we are finding that God really does restore and redeem our pain for something greater than we can now imagine.
At the Pastor Burnout web page you will discover:
a Pastor Burnout Workbook
Pastor Burnout Stories
a Pastors Forum
a Pastor Burnout Blog
Pastor Burnout Statistics
Burnout Definition, information and symptoms including 53 Pastor Burnout Causes
information on overcoming Burnout and Burnout recovery
Clinical Depression, symptoms and responding to it?
Overcoming Pornography
Pastor Care
Career Change information for Pastors
Sermon Outlines
Pastor Burnout Jokes
Pastor Retreats
Pastor Burnout Books
and many Pastor Resources
visit http://www.pastorburnout.com/

Book: Ministry in disaster settings

Ministry in Disaster Settings: Lessons from the Edge studies the issues for clergy and church leaders during disasters. 
It is based on interviews with a number of ministry agents who cared for their communities during and after major tragedies. The book seeks to understand what were the issues for them, including how they were affected, if and how they were cared for, and what lessons the church can learn in doing this work and caring for the carers. this is a valuable resource to all people involved in ministry, chaplaincy and caring for pastors and other religious helpers. 

Part One is a series of Case Studies of individual ministers and chaplains involved in: 

• The Granville Train Disaster; 
• The Kempsey Bus Crash; 
• The Port Arthur Massacre 
• the Thredbo Ski Resort Landslide. 

Part Two examines the nature of ministry "on the edge" and its affect on ministry agents. 
Part Three is Biblical and Theological Reflections on Ministry in Crisis times. 
Part Four consists of lessons for ministry on the edge; for pastors and their carers.

Pastoral Care resources: Responding to Domestic Violence

A Handbook for Pastoral Carers and clergy in responding to domestic violence produced by the Christian Churches of South Australia

Has God abandoned me - for women facing domestic violence from Lutheran Hour Ministries

Faith Trust Institute is a national, multifaith, multicultural training and education organization with global reach working to end sexual and domestic violence.  Their web site provides resources, training, blogs and articles relating to pastoral care to people experiencing domestic or sexual violence.

Paper - What Pastors can do to help victims of domestic violence in the church by Grant L Martin phd

Leadership Journal article - When domestic violence knocks

Huffington Post article - Why pastors struggle with confronting domestic violence

Bible Studies from Abigail's support group

Biblical perspectives on Domestic Violence

What the bible says about domestic violence and abuse

Augsburg Fortress latest resources

5 of the latest resources from Augsburg Fortress publishing

Christian Economic Ethics: History and Implications by Daniel Finn
What does the history of Christian views of economic life mean for economic life in the twenty-first century? Here Daniel Finn reviews the insights provided by a large number of texts, from the Bible and the early church, to the Middle Ages and the Protestant Reformation, to treatments of the subject in the last century. Relying on both social science and theology, Finn then turns to the implications of this history for economic life today. Throughout, the book invites the reader to engage the sources and to develop an answer to the volume's basic question.

The Mission Table:  Renewing Congregation and Community by Stephen Bouman
In a time of declining mainline Protestant church attendance, Bouman reminds us that the Holy Spirit is still very much at work. It is the mission of our churches to aid God's reconciling and restoring action in the world. This conversation on mission must involve everyone including laypeople, pastors, seminarians, and emerging congregational leaders. Each chapter contains scripture, questions, and activities, allowing for group study, reflection, and action. The goal is ultimately to help every member of the church to live as signs of the God who made the world and who will make all things new.
Chapters are:

• Table of Creation
• From the kitchen table to the alter table
• Seeking hospitality at new tables
• The Congregation:  a table for mission
• Mission Table Leadership
• Setting Mission Tables
• Restoring the Broken Tables

Anatomy of the New Testament 7th edition by Spivey, Smith and Black 

This broadly adopted textbook weds literary and historical approaches to focus on the New Testament’s structure and meaning. Anatomy of the New Testament is systematic, critical, and reliable in its scope and content.

This seventh edition has been revised throughout, to take account of current trends in scholarship and to discuss important interpretative issues, such as the Gospel of Thomas. Each chapter includes two new features:

•         Have You Learned It? offering questions for analysis and synthesis

•         What Do They Mean? presenting definitions of key terms to enhance student comprehension and critical thinking

The text is augmented by numerous sidebars to stimulate discussion of matters “Behind,” “Within,” and “Beyond the New Testament.”

Other new features include:

•         a more readable two-column format

•         fresh, up-to-date maps

•         nearly 100 new images and illustrations in black and white and color

•         new charts and diagrams that facilitate deeper learning

•         thoroughly updated bibliographies

Shaped by the Story: Discover the Art of Bible Storying by Michael Novelli 

After more than a decade in youth ministry, Michael Novelli felt like he'd tried everything to connect his students to the Bible. Then a missionary introduced him to the art of Bible storying—an imaginative way to engage in the scriptures through storytelling, creative reflection, and dialogue. He soon discovered that Bible storying was not only an effective teaching approach, but a powerful way to awaken people to new purpose and identity rooted in the biblical narrative.

In 2012, Michael partnered with sparkhouse to create Echo the Story curriculum, based on his approach to Bible storying. Michael has seen people of all ages benefit from this imaginative way of encountering God through the Bible.

In this book, you'll find methods for adapting Bible storying for varied contexts and ages, testimonials from people using this approach, tools to create your own Bible storying narratives, and details about the proven learning theories guiding this approach.

Redeeming Fear: A Constructive Theology for Living into Hope by Jason C. Whitehead

Our brains are hard-wired to experience the emotion of fear. Yet "do not be afraid" is a common refrain from the Bible, used for both comfort and chastening. Too often, we have treated fear, an emotion that helps protect us from threats, as something simply to be dismissed, ignored, or suppressed. Being afraid means so much more than simply fighting or running from a threat; to be afraid is to remember that something in life is worth living for. In fact, there may even be circumstances where fear is God's best response to what we are experiencing. In this book, Whitehead helps us find the roots of hope in the soil of our fears so that we can form lives and communities of hope in the midst of a culture of fear.

Sections include:

• Why Fear?  Why NOW?
• What does it mean to be afraid?
• Pastoral theology of fear and hope
• Responding to our fears

Book: Pastor Abusers

Pastor Abusers by Ken Crochet is a survival manual for pastors who are constantly being attacked by critical church members. 
How can a pastor defend himself? 
What is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm? 
What are the pastor's options if he is fired or forced out of the church? 
The answers are in the 191-page book.

Who are the “Pastor Abusers”?
Pastor Abusers are mean-spirited church members whose mission is to attack the pastor and drive him out of the church. 

In this book you will learn:
How Pastor Abusers operate.
Why they are determined to bring you down?
How to recognize when trouble is brewing.?
What to do when you’re under attack?
Your four options after you leave the church.

Quotes from Abused Pastors
“It was more than I could take when my wife had an emotional breakdown. As I held her in my arms, she cried uncontrollably, sobbing a few words at a time: ‘All we’ve tried to do . . . is love these people . . . and all we get in return . . . is hate.’”

“I went out to my driveway and found a tire on my van had been slashed, as had been a tire on my other car. The same person who had done this had gotten under the hood and removed a relay for the headlights. . . .This group meant business and was determined to get their way.”

“I started getting obscene phone calls in the middle of the night cursing me out. I received hate mail, cursing me and telling me to go to hell. I would get letters in my box telling me that I was a terrible pastor and that I needed to leave.”

Reviews
Amazon Reviews
The Lighthouse keeper
John the Steadfast

Book: Choosing to cheat..what happens when family and work collide by Andy Staney

Work. Family. Church. Hobbies. Fitness. Housekeeping. Socializing. Sleep. With only 24 hours in each day, we simply can't fit everything in. And what we choose to cheat is a clear announcement of our values. When you come home an hour earlier, miss a round of golf, or let the dishes sit while you play with your child, you make your family feel valued and secure. Bestselling author Andy Stanley helps you restore your vision of what really matters - and guides you in making courageous decisions about your time.

Who are you cheating? 
You love your family. You love the challenges of your job. But there’s not enough of you to go around. Somebody isn’t getting as much of your attention as they want or deserve. 

This little book presents a strategic plan for resolving the tension between work and home—reversing the destructive pattern of giving to your company and career what belongs to your family. 

But be forewarned...you will have to cheat.

Story Behind the Book
Andy has spent hundreds of hours with men and women who have cheated their families for the sake of their career goals. They all admitted knowing there was a problem. This is not a struggle relegated to some diminutive segment of society. We all wrestle with the tension between work and family. Regardless of which side of the equation you are on, you know what it is like to deal with the endless cycle of guilt, anger, jealousy, and rejection. But there is a solution. Strangely enough, the solution is similar to the problem. Both involve cheating. Simply put, you must choose to cheat at work rather than at home.

Read the Amazon Customer Reviews

Lutheran resources to minister to those affected by suicide

Suicide is a very difficult situation.  
Sometimes we are stuck for words to say, other times we are unsure how to respond.    
Other times we hear about people committing suicide and we ask why???


Following are a number of resources I pray help you should you or a friend of yours ever be affected by suicide.  

Two sermons from Pastor Matt Thiele @ grace space, suicide and suicide- what would Jesus say? 

A sermon from Pastor Richard Schwedes - Sermon for the funeral of a person who committed suicide

Christian perspectives on suicide

Surviving the suicide of a loved one....pdf free Lutheran Hour Ministry 

The church and suicide Lutheran Church of Australia

Suicide Prevention from ELCA

Suicide LCMS

Suicide and the silence of scripture Christianity Today

3 video stories of people facing suicide but found hope in God from Yes He is!!

Bible verses
Mark 14:38
Romans 5:20
1 John 1:9
1 John 3:20-21

Psalms 25
Psalms 103
Psalms 130

Isaiah 43:1-3, 4-5
Romans 8:31-39
Hebrews 13:5b-6
1 Peter 5:8-9


Should you wish to discuss the issue of suicide  please contact a pastor, your doctor or a Christian counselor.

Feel free to email me with appropriate resources richardschwedes@gmail.com

Spiritual Care for people when spouses are ill or life is changing

Changes in life or unexpected life events have an impact on us emotionally and spiritually.

When a spouse becomes ill or needs special care not only is your life disrupted, but plans are put on hold, dreams may seem further away or even impossibile or your life path may take a turn you never expected or prepared for. When retirement looms life also changes. Such situations can result in resentment, disappointment and even uncertainity with God, your spouse and even yourself.

There are a number of resources that help when such situations arise:
How to find grace for caregiving is an article that is based on the book AMBUSHED BY GRACE: HELP AND HOPE ON THE CAREGIVING JOURNEY
Prepare-Enrich Australia through local counsellors offer a counselling using diagnostic tool that help couples enrich and improve their marriage. It helps to identify those areas where there are strengths and those areas which are possible growth areas in a married relationship. This is a good way for couples to begin to understand where to focus. For further information contact myself or Prepare-Enrich
Where is God now? offers a number of excellent devotions, suggested bible readings and prayers relating to situations where there is disappointment and discouragement.
The Lutheran Handbook on Marriage has a section relating to older and retiring couples and suggestions on how they can enrich and enhance their marriage during later years.