When leadership goes wrong we hear about it in the headlines, and it rightly stimulates important conversations. But do we talk enough about the changes we need to make and what it looks like to lead well, particularly as we manage the unusual tensions and pressures of church leadership?
Join Kate and Justin as they interview respected experts from a variety of perspectives and really dig into the issues that matter, asking what needs to change so that our leadership is healthy for us, for those we lead, and for the cultures and communities we are becoming.
Exploring core themes like culture, power, courage and compassion, this is essential listening for all Christian leaders processing, pondering and praying about how we lead in this season.
➡️ Find the show notes for each episode in the episode description
🔗 Find more content like this on myspringharvest.com
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Hope and Leadership with Kate Middleton and Justin Humphreys
At the end of this series of conversations about psychologically healthy leadership, Abby Guinness turns the tables on Kate and Justin to ask them to reflect on their journey through the season. What are the key takeaways from these conversations they have been most influenced by? What issues feel important to them in this moment? And how do they - and we - find hope in our leadership through difficult times.
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13 May 2025
Compassion and Leadership with Joanna Collicutt
Is ministry really more complex than other leadership roles? Is it helpful for us to view ourselves as leaders, and in the midst of all the other complexity we experience, how can we understand our role in a healthy way? Joanna Collicutt is a psychologist and priest in the Church of England. As we consider challenges like trauma, identity and anxiety she explains why self-compassion and finding joy even in the tough phases of ministry might be the most important skills we cultivate.
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6 May 2025
Trust and Leadership with Chuck DeGroat
Trust is an essential part of any human relationship. But how do we rebuild trust and heal the hurt when trust has been broken? What does that look like for individuals - and what about the whole church, in a season when many people have lost trust in that wider institution or a particular tradition? How do we balance the need for justice and the mission with needing time to heal and process? Chuck DeGroat has a particular interest in supporting people and churches in the aftermath of abuse or when damage has been done. Join us as we think about trust, vulnerability and what it looks like to start again.
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29 Apr 2025
Theology and Leadership with Selina Stone
What does it look like to attend well to issues of power when we articulate theology and the Bible? How might our own experiences, biases and even tradition or culture influence the way we teach, maximising some voices but minimising others? Join us as we talk with Dr Selina Stone, a theologian from the University of Edinburgh, and press into what we need to understand about theology, power and the impact it can have on those who are most vulnerable.
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22 Apr 2025
Innovation and Leadership with Chris Curtis
We all come to leadership with expectations of what it might need to look like. But what do you do when the surrounding culture requires a change of direction? What does innovative leadership look like - and when we face challenging situations, how do we tease apart the good from the bad or even the ugly? Chris Curtis has a leadership track
record over decades, first pioneering what became Youthscape - a national youth work organisation based in Luton but with a national reach and influence - but also in youth work in the local church. Join us as he shares lessons he has learned from the unexpected moments - including the pandemic - and why the team around you is so important.
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1 Apr 2025
Courage and Leadership with Olivia Amartey
Olivia Omartey is often introduced as a trailblazer leader. She’s the first black female executive director of the ELIM pentecostal denomination and also leads as a pastor in a church in Birmingham. And she brings a wealth of experience from her background leading in the NHS, as well as in the Anglican church and the voluntary sector. She’s heavily involved in encouraging other leaders too, with a particular passion for those who, like her, describe themselves as ‘reluctant leaders.’
She’s a great example of courage in leadership - but what does it look like to follow a call you’re not sure about? And how does courage and confidence in our leadership balance with the need for humility - in our understanding of what ‘success’ is, and in the moments when things haven’t gone according to plan. Join us as we explore what it looks like to hold failure well, why we shouldn’t believe our own publicity and what authentic leadership looks like when we don’t look like the leader people expect or perhaps think they need.
Olivia has written ‘The gift of Christ responding and living fruitfully: An ecumenical course in 5 sessions” (York courses)
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25 Mar 2025
Security and Leadership with Steve Cuss
One powerful predictor of less healthy patterns and culture in leadership is when a leader is driven by or susceptible to anxiety. But what is the difference between acute and chronic anxiety, and might more of us be influenced by anxiety than we realise. Why is anxiety such a powerful influence in a team or culture, and what do we do if one person has become dominant in setting the emotional temperature of a space?
Steve Cuss brings decades of experience pastoring across different contexts and church traditions, and a compassionate insight into the dynamics of healthy relationships and healthy leadership. Join us as we explore how we might recognise and manage our own anxiety, how to deal with tricky people dynamics and why spending some time at ‘home’ might be the most important thing you do as a leader.
Steve’s books are “Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs” (pub Thomas Nelson) and “The Expectation Gap: The tiny, vast space between our beliefs and experience of God.” (Zondervan) He also refers to “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A leadership Fable.” by Patrick Lencioni
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18 Mar 2025
Power and Leadership with Lisa Oakley
One response to leadership failures is to conclude that leadership and power are just in essence unhealthy. However, we’re not called to throw out leadership or deny that we have power and authority, but to recognise, understand, and hold that power in healthier ways. Lisa combines both personal experience and professional wisdom as a psychologist and academic researching the impact of spiritual abuse and the misuse of power in spiritual contexts. She shares her learnings from the countless stories she has heard from those who have been impacted as we think about what healthy (and Biblical) power looks like, and how understanding this can help us reclaim healthy leadership and enable flourishing churches.
Lisa and Justin’s book is “Escaping the maze of spiritual abuse: Creating Healthy Christian Cultures.” (SPCK)
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11 Mar 2025
Motivation and Leadership with Eun Strawser
One key job as a leader is to motivate people - yourself and others - vision casting, inspiring and (realistically!) getting volunteers in position so the necessary jobs get done!. Particularly in challenging times, where might we be at risk of using negative motivators (eg guilt, anxiety, people pleasing etc) and why is this a problem? What do you do if you start something, honestly, with an expectation you may well fail?! And how do we bring a positive energy to our leadership to build the right kind of passion and enthusiasm? Eun Strawser has two decades of experience of leadership and discipleship across a variety of contexts, and is currently co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means "Presence" in Hawaiian), non-denominational missional communities multiplying in Honolulu, Hawaii. Join us as she brings her thoughtful challenge to ministry - particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic, and hear her thoughts on what needs to change and why. Eun’s book is “Centering Discipleship: A pathway for Multiplying Spectators into Mature Disciples.” (IVP)
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4 Mar 2025
Culture and Leadership with Scott McNight and Laura Barringer
We know culture is important. But building the right culture is not always easy. What does it look like to build really healthy culture, and to challenge dynamics or aspects of the culture that need to change? And how do the people IN the church bring influence to its culture? Scot McKnight and his daughter Laura are passionate about building healthy church cultures and together wrote two books on this subject: “A Church called Tov” and “Pivot: The priorities, practices and powers that can transform your church into a Tov Culture.” In this conversation we talk about what healthy ‘Tov’ culture looks like, how you know when a culture needs to change, and what it looks like in practice to bring something better. Their books are: “A Church Called Tov” and “Pivot” both from Tyndale publishers. The book Scott references near the end is “Being Real: The apostle Paul’s Hardship Narratives and the Stories we Tell Today.” by Philip Plyming.
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25 Feb 2025
Character and Leadership with Roger Bretherton
One of the most important aspects of leadership is our character. But how does leadership sometimes become linked with unhealthy character, and what are the aspects of character we should focus on as we grow in leadership? Roger is a psychologist with decades of experience and wisdom into character and leadership, particularly in the church. Join us as we discuss all aspects of leadership character.
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21 Feb 2025
Teaser: Becoming: A My Spring Harvest Podcast
When leadership goes wrong we hear about it in the headlines, and it rightly stimulates important conversations. But do we talk enough about the changes we need to make and what it looks like to lead well, particularly as we manage the unusual tensions and pressures of church leadership?
Join Kate and Justin as they interview respected experts from a variety of perspectives and really dig into the issues that matter, asking what needs to change so that our leadership is healthy for us, for those we lead, and for the cultures and communities we are becoming.
Exploring core themes like culture, power, courage and compassion, this is essential listening for all Christian leaders processing, pondering and praying about how we lead in this season.
➡️ Find the show notes for each episode in the episode description
🔗 Find more content like this on myspringharvest.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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