Tagged With "Kingdom of God"
Blog Post
Justice Matters is an organization comprising...
Justice Matters is an organization comprising 21 diverse religious congregations in Lawrence, KS. Its mission is to "move Lawrence toward a City of God where justice rolls down like a mighty river", according to Ben MacConnell, its lead organizer....
Blog Post
3 Myths about suicide you may have picked up along the way (godsgotthis.org)
On National Suicide Prevention Day, Kayla Stoecklein, the widow of pastor Andrew Stoecklein, took to her blog God’s Got This to dispel a few myths surrounding the stigma of suicide. Today is world suicide prevention day. I strongly believe that suicide prevention is possible and to be honest it’s one of the reasons why I write. I am by no means an expert on mental illness or suicide. I am speaking purely from a raw place of brokenness and pain. The reason I am addressing these myths today is...
Blog Post
A call for help: suicide in children
This is the second in the series on children and suicide. The first post asked the question, “Do elementary age children seriously consider suicide?” It is important to understand all you can about suicide in young...
Blog Post
A Florida ACEs Tour
RADICAL GRACE – WHAT I LET GOD SEE AND ACCEPT IN ME ALSO BECOMES WHAT I CAN SEE AND ACCEPT IN MYSELF. AND EVEN MORE, IT BECOMES THAT WHEREBY I SEE EVERYTHING ELSE. ~ RICHARD ROHR For the past three months, I’ve been driving through various parts of Florida witnessing events and gatherings of communities committed to creating safe, loving, trauma informed, and trauma healing spaces. On Friday February 22nd, I was in Tarpon Springs, attending the monthly gathering of Robin Saeger’s...
Blog Post
A New Resource on ACE
While research shows that being a part of a faith-based community increases emotional and even physical health, church members are neither exempt nor automatically healed from the impact of childhood and adult adversity. I have written an new book, Break EVERY Stinking Chain! Healing For Hidden Wounds , available on Amazon.com which discusses ACE in detail and integrates Christian scripture and faith as a means of recovery. It is currently available as an ebook and in paperback. I have been...
Blog Post
A "Trauma-informed Lord's Prayer" by & for children, written in chapel at Intermountain
In a previous post , I explained that this fall I worked with the children on understanding and interpreting the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer, or "Our Father," posed many interesting opportunities to discuss themes that each and ever one of us struggle with. It was a challenge preparing a lesson for children with emotional disturbance dealing with complicated teachings in scripture. It was an exercise in combatting "Christian-ese" and the simple Sunday school answers (you know... when in...
Blog Post
Adult Sunday school curriculum exploring trauma-informed ministry now available!
UPDATE! As of 3/27/17 all copies of the first run of this curriculum have been purchased or reserved. We hope to have a second printing/production run done soon, though the budget to provide free copies has been exhausted. Those requesting the materials from this point forward will need to submit the $60. required. I have also had some requests for a "preview" of the curriculum in order to see if it is appropriate for your ministry setting. I have attached the print portion of Week 2 so you...
Blog Post
An ACES Presentation as a Sermon
My 45-minute Understanding ACES teaching was delivered on Sunday to a church in Rock Hill, South Carolina. This will be followed by a special weekly series that addresses the Christian/biblical solution to the many spiritual risk factors that stem from early life trauma.
Blog Post
At Border, San Diego Bishop Offers Prayer of Hope, Defiance (timesofsandiego.com)
Recalling Mary and Joseph as “illegal immigrants” seeking shelter, San Diego’s Roman Catholic leader made a pilgrimage to the border Saturday to share words of hope and solidarity. “We are praying and hoping that the policies which emerge from the new administration will be focused upon deporting those who have committed crimes,” Bishop Robert McElroy said, “and that they will not begin mass deportations of young people that have lived their lives here and know nothing other than that.”...
Blog Post
Author of "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks" study connects with the Arizona Trauma-Informed Faith Community
I was pleased to be able to connect with my friend and colleague in trauma-informed ministry, Sanghoon Yoo (@thefaithfulcity), a few weeks ago to present insights into how trauma-informed care connects with the heart of the Christian gospel. God is continuing to work through the amazing churches, pastors, ministry leaders, and participants in the Arizona Trauma-Informed Faith Initiative, and it was encouraging to see how many were able to turn out, even on a busy Monday afternoon. We...
Blog Post
Be trained to lead a Life Changing Small Group Study!
Exciting 2 Day Training | August 23 & 24, 2019 Who should attend? Pastors, Church Leaders, Sunday School teachers, foster/adoptive parents, and anyone interested in a faith-based approach. If you minister to the hurting, learn how trauma informed practice can help you reach and impact lives with a powerful combination of scientific and biblical principles. Participants will gain an understanding of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) and how traumatic events affect how a person...
Blog Post
Building Resilience for Better Lives - from HelenaIR.com
Life is hard. “In this world you WILL have trouble,” Jesus said. The ability to successfully face the hardships that will inevitably come to us will determine our level of satisfaction, joy, and peace. Resilience isn’t just a desirable trait, it’s absolutely essential. And, it turns out that scripture has a lot to say about this essential quality for successful living. There are many passages we could examine to illustrate the point, but the letter from James is one of my favorites. Eugene...
Blog Post
Can kids in single parent homes become successful contributing adults to society when they grow up?
There are a lot of negative statistics about children in divorced homes. While these stats may be true, they may lead you to conclude that the children who come from these homes are set up for failure. It doesn’t have to be that...
Blog Post
Chaplain Chris Haughee Interview
To quote a friend who just gave her testimony at our church about her own struggles with mental health misdiagnosis and recovery, she was told after her first hospitalization, “This won’t be the first time you deal with this.” Our trauma is always with us.
Blog Post
Clergy embrace trauma informed training in Greater Philadelphia region
An exceptional all-day “Trauma-Informed Training for Clergy” event was held in Philadelphia in May 2017, organized by JSR Educational Enrichment Strategies, Inc. Founder and President Doris Smith-Ribner, Retired PA State Appeals Court Judge. Judge Smith-Ribner recognized the need for this training particularly for those on the front lines of dealing with the impacts of trauma and its prevalence within Philadelphia—the Clergy. Here is her report from that meeting. Highly-regarded trauma...
Blog Post
Coming back to ‘The Wall': building resilience by learning to trust
Recently, we did an object lesson as part of our Resilience-based series that I call “the Wall.” We talked about how bad things happen in this world despite having a loving God that looks over us. We make bad choices at times that hurt us, and others make bad choices that hurt us. In general, there is a lot of brokenness in relationships that causes a lot of damage. So, I told the children, we learn how to protect ourselves. Just like castles have BIG walls or our cottages on campus have...
Blog Post
Consider a Resolution in 2017 worth keeping: Advocacy
2017 is here, and it’s the season when most of us consider New Year’s resolutions and even the most cynical among us dares to think that with a little will power we might do any number of things: lose weight, eat healthier, watch less TV, get that promotion, or repair damaged relationships. This year, I’d ask you to consider a resolution that will make the world a better place and will give you a sense of purpose in 2017: be an advocate. An advocate is someone who speaks on behalf of someone...
Blog Post
Covenant Pastors Collaborate to address Mental Health, ACEs
I couldn't be prouder of my home church, Headwaters Covenant Church in Helena, MT. Throughout the fall, we have been purposefully and carefully addressing subjects that the church often avoids. Among these topics are the family dysfunction that results from generational trauma, the prevalence of adversity in childhood within families in Montana, training in suicide awareness and prevention, and moral injury (especially among our veterans and service men and women). Just this last Sunday we...
Blog Post
Developing compassion for our neighbors and ourselves: trauma-informed faith
Even when we feel like God doesn’t hear us, he can guide our path to people and ideas that will resonate with our spirits and bring healing... The process of becoming trauma-informed can help us to develop compassion. We can overcome personal barriers that prevent us from reaching out to others in loving ways. We will be able to feel and share more of God’s love.
Blog Post
Divinity School graduate finds his community in ministry [The Harvard Gazette]
By Lian Parsons, June 27, 2019, The Harvard Gazette Israel Buffardi, M.Div. ’19, walked a long and winding path before finding his calling. The Rhode Island native was raised Catholic and from an early age felt a strong draw to spirituality and ritual. At age 14, he decided he wanted to become a priest. This plan changed when he realized he was queer. Coming out precipitated many questions about his faith, such as the acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ people. “I felt like I had a deep...
Blog Post
Drawing connections, building empathy and resilience in traumatized children
At Intermountain's residential services, we have spent a lot of time this past month focusing on thankfulness, gratitude, and recognizing how richly we have been blessed. This has allowed me, as their chaplain, to encourage empathetic responses to the needs of others while also building a positive self-image as each child recognizes that they have something to give others. Woven into this narrative was a recognition of our interdependence and that it is not a sign of weakness to acknowledge...
Blog Post
Elevate Montana - Helena Affiliate and "trial run" of new trauma-informed curriculum for churches
To date, over 80 copies of the curriculum Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks: a six week study of trauma-informed ministry and compassionate care for children from hard places and situations have gone out around the country. Released this past spring, most have ordered it to preview the materials prior to utilization this coming fall. So, while feedback has been positive, there have been few users with specific comments related to how their teaching experience has gone (because, well... they...
Blog Post
Empowered To Connect - worth forwarding
As a parent of 4 young children and career education professionals working in special education - my wife and I embarked on an "adoption journey" through a number of events several years ago. In addition to reading books, talking with other adoptive...
Blog Post
Finding healing after trauma: Elizabeth Smart (courtesy of Goalcast)
One of the most common questions I get from the trauma-affected children I serve is, "Why did God allow [insert really awful, tragic experience] to happen to me?" I imagine it's a question that most pastors, ministers, chaplains, and those Christians who share their faith with others face. It's fundamentally a relational question, not a theological one... and that's important to remember. The question is seeking the reason why a God who is Love could allow something that is experienced as...
Blog Post
Finding Spirituality and My Own God In Recovery From Drugs
Finding spirituality is something I had to find through pain and suffering emotionally. I grew up without much of an idea of god, my parents didn't force it on me. When I was a teenager however, I climbed on the soapbox of thinking people who had faith in god were weak and fools for doing so. My ego was in full force during these times, the transformation that has taken place since then is nothing short of amazing and shows off not only the power and grace of god, but the love. I was someone...
Blog Post
Finding Spirituality and My Own God In Recovery From Drugs
Finding spirituality is something I had to find through pain and suffering emotionally. I grew up without much of an idea of god, my parents didn't force it on me. When I was a teenager however, I climbed on the soapbox of thinking people who had faith in god were weak and fools for doing so. My ego was in full force during these times, the transformation that has taken place since then is nothing short of amazing and shows off not only the power and grace of god, but the love. I was someone...
Blog Post
Following MLK’s Example Means Ending Our ‘Whatever’ Mindset [BillMoyers.com]
I am often deeply disturbed by our remorseless witness. We are all implicated; we share responsibility for our witness of well-defined evil. We don’t protect our most vulnerable children; we value people according to arbitrary standards...
Blog Post
For those that ordered... the trauma-informed curriculum for churches is headed out the door this week!
It's been a labor of love more than a year in the making, and it is exciting to see the curriculum come together and head out to those that will give this first version a "test drive" this spring and (hopefully) give me some great feedback so I can make improvements over the summer and make the curriculum better! It is called "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks: a six week study of trauma-informed ministry and compassionate care for children from hard places and situations." The study is...
Blog Post
Free Resource! A "Trauma Informed" Jelly Bean Easter Poem
First thing you may ask is What?? and then, perhaps, Why?? Well... The story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, death, burial and resurrection can be difficult for many people, but none more so than the victims of abuse or neglect, or for anyone especially affected by violence. We want to be sensitive to the special needs of those that have endured trauma, but still remain truthful to the gospel. So, what is a parent, children’s minister, or pastor to do around Easter? It’s a tough situation. If you...
Blog Post
"Helping Kids Heal" Five Minutes with Chris Haughee from Covenant Companion
Five Minutes with Chris Haughee: Helping Kids Heal covenantcompanion.com /2018/04/16/five-minutes-with-chris-haughee-helping-kids-heal/ By Guest Author April 16, 2018 Chris Haughee Chris Haughee is a Covenant chaplain working at Intermountain Residential, an intensive residential program for children who demonstrate behavioral challenges with campuses in Helena and Kalispell, Montana. Chris and his family attend Headwaters Covenant Church in Helena. He writes about the ministry at...
Blog Post
How do you cope? Self-regulation "favorites" from our children! (video)
In a recent chapel time, our children were given the opportunity to "pay if forward" by helping create the video below. You see, part of the lesson was about thanksgiving and generosity, and that generosity is NOT just about sharing money. It's about being the type of people who share compassion and the wisdom that has been gained through difficulty. The children were encouraged to know that they could help other children handle their big feelings in healthy ways by sharing what they had...
Blog Post
How One Farm Saved This Tiny Town’s Survival Rate (rd.com)
By the summer of 2005, the Reverend Richard Joyner of Conetoe Chapel Missionary Baptist Church realized he was conducting funerals twice a month—a startling number given his town’s tiny population. Nearly 300 souls call Conetoe (pronounced “ka-‘nee-ta”) home. The predominantly African American hamlet is situated in North Carolina’s Edgecombe County, where a quarter of households live below the poverty line and heart disease kills more
20- to 39-year-olds than do car accidents. “I’ve closed...
Blog Post
Hungry hearts have no ears
Churches can't expect to meet spiritual needs if physical needs are not being met first. “Hungry hearts have no ears.” This was a phrase that Ms. Kennedy, an elementary teacher, used to tell the parents of children in...
Blog Post
Influencer's Church of Cumming, GA Hosts Strategic Trauma and Abuse Recovery: A Detailed Map for Healing
Strategic Trauma and Abuse Recovery is an evidence-informed, spiritually integrated, structured process for conducting ACEs (trauma) recovery education and treatment. The Backbone of S.T.A.R. is The 3 Progressive Phases of Trauma and Abuse Recovery. These 3 phases are further broken down into 12 stages, which provides for transitions and breaks down the process in a simpler fashion. The stages provide a strategy for moving through the healing process, much like a map. It gives both providers...
Blog Post
“Jesus didn’t live in a gated community” (salon.com)
This isn’t the first time in history that people who call themselves Christians have been doing awful things. It isn’t the first time many of us who still seek meaning in our faith find ourselves questioning what our belief system truly stands for in the real world. Yet it feels a particularly acute moment nonetheless, one in which the need to speak out against hypocrisy and injustice is stronger than it has been in recent memory, and when the temptation to bail on belief seems on many days...
Blog Post
Know Your ACE PLACE
What did you think about when you first learned about ACEs? If you have completed the 10-question ACE survey, you will know your score and might have some idea as to the score of your parents or your children. What is your perspective? Where do you stand? By placing yourself in one or more of the following categories, which I will call ACE PLACES, you will be taking the first step toward the healing and prevention of ACEs.
Blog Post
Knowing and Growing - a look in to a recent chapel lesson from my Resilience series
Dear friends at ACEsConnection, I thought it might be of interest to you to see an example of how I am integrating the themes of resilience building, and in particular the measures from the Children and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12+4), into our chapel times on campus at Intermountain Residential Services in Helena, Montana. What appears below is part of the lesson built around the tried and true measure of resilience: can the child identify skills and abilities that are making them more...
Blog Post
Let Light Shine Out of Darkness: Leading and Loving in a World of Trauma and Suffering (Workshop)
THE CHURCH IS CALLED TO BE A HEALING PRESENCE IN THE WORLD. But the reality is that the world is filled with so much suffering, so much pain, and so much suffering that it can be overwhelming to a church and its leaders. Where do we begin? What happens if we get in over our heads? These are all real and important questions. THE BEST WAY FOR THE CHURCH TO BE THIS HEALING PRESENCE IN THE WORLD IS TO LEARN THE REALITIES OF THE SUFFERING THAT IS ALL AROUND THEM, BOTH OUTSIDE THE CHURCH AND...
Blog Post
My Tears in His Bottle: prayers from the heart of a special needs’ mom
Pat Hays has written a devotional book that gives wonderful insight into the joys and struggles that parenting a child with emotional special needs presents. Her book, My Tears in His Bottle: prayers from the heart of a special needs’ mom , contains excerpts from her personal prayer journal as she worked through the last fifteen years of balancing her calling to be an adoptive parent with the roadblocks she encountered in her neighborhood, friendships, school district, marriage, and church...
Blog Post
New and improved 2nd edition of the "Bruised Reeds & Smoldering Wicks" trauma-informed curriculum for churches now available!
I am pleased to announce that a NEW, 8-week version of the study, "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks," is now available. This 2nd edition includes input I received from the ACEsConnection community and others which resulted in two additional weeks of material. You still get the movie, "Paper Tigers," and the licensing to show it to up to 250 in an educational or religious setting, but there is much more... And, while a number of edits have gone into this second edition of the curriculum, my...
Blog Post
New Trauma-informed curriculum for training ministries available as an instant digital download!!
I have been blessed by the response to the curriculum "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks," now having sent it out to ministries in 26 States and the District of Columbia. I have already received a little feedback and made some minor changes to content, but what I am most excited about is that t he curriculum is now available in a downloadable digital format! For those that have not seen previous posts on the curriculum, the study is for adult small groups or classes and is laid out into the...
Blog Post
On Being - Desmond Tutu
DESMOND TUTU — A God of Surprises "There's no question about the reality of evil, of injustice, of suffering, but at the center of this existence is a heart beating with love." South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on how...
Blog Post
Overcoming a Difficult Childhood: FREE 12 Lesson DVDs with American Sign Language
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) affect how a person develops physically, emotionally, cognitively, and spiritually. The ACE Overcomers series provides answers to many difficult questions. Through a combination of Biblical principles and sound science, these 12 powerful sessions will begin to retrain your brain and reset your nervous system. This course has helped many to overcome the effects of stress and adversity, and to ultimately trust God with every detail of life. ACE Overcomers:...
Blog Post
Personal stories from witnesses, U.S. representatives provided an emotional wallop to House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on childhood trauma
Room erupts in applause for the grandmother of witness William Kellibrew during July 11 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. The power of personal stories from witnesses and committee members fueled the July 11 hearing on childhood trauma in the House Oversight and Reform Committee* throughout the nearly four hours of often emotional and searing testimony and member questions and statements (Click here for 3:47 hour video). The hearing was organized into a two panels—testimony from...
Blog Post
Pope Francis washes the feet of Muslim migrants, says we are ‘children of the same God’ (washingtonpost.com)
They came from Mali, Eritrea, Syria and Pakistan. They were Muslim, Hindu, Catholic and Coptic Christians. And one by one, Pope Francis knelt down before these migrants on Holy Thursday and washed their feet. The ritual, performed in a center for asylum seekers outside of Rome, comes amid anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe and in the wake of a terrorist attack in Brussels, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility. A number of the migrants whose feet were washed by the pope had...
Blog Post
Reading the Bible Through Neuroscience [theatlantic.com]
What was it like inside the brain of an ancient prophet? James Kugel has been spent his entire scholarly career studying the Bible, but some very basic questions about it still obsess him. What was it about the minds of ancient Israelites that allowed them to hear and see God directly—or at least, to believe that they did? Were the biblical prophets literally hearing voices and seeing visions, understanding themselves to be transmitting God’s own exact words? If so, why did such direct...
Blog Post
Register now for "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks" seminar Oct. 26th!
Register now for "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks" - A study of trauma-informed ministry and compassionate care for children from hard places and situations. Join us for the morning to hear from Rev. Dr. Chris Haughee, chaplain for Intermountain Residential Services in Helena, Montana. Chris’ professional work with children who have lived through significant trauma, his own personal experience as an adoptive father of two and his work with the Adverse Childhood Experiences ACEs study led...
Blog Post
Sharing the Word: ACE Knowledge is “Secular Gospel” for Montana Pastor
When Reverend Tyler Amundson first read the 1998 ACE study, he realized that this landmark science could become a common language: a way to talk about adversity and healing with clinicians and government officials, devout churchgoers and people who would never step inside a place of worship. “I call this the secular gospel,” he says. “It was easy to describe the ACE study to people. It opened a door for us to name how people face trauma and adversity and how positive relationships can help...
Blog Post
Six-week adult Sunday school curriculum on trauma-informed ministry coming soon!
Within the next month, I will be making available a draft version of an adult Sunday School curriculum that will introduce the concept of trauma-informed ministry to churches. If there are members of ACEsConnection that would like to "test run" the curriculum, I'd be honored if you'd reach out to me in the comments section or via a direct message. Email works, too! Just send to chrish@intermountain.org. The curriculum just takes a look at the "slice" of trauma-informed ministry that I am...