PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS

A rural church is bringing people together affected by the opioid epidemic

A SMALL CHURCH'S CAMPAIGN IS IMPACTING STRUGGLING PEOPLE

Nancy Didick of Wrentham, Massachusetts, traveled a lonely road when her 35-year-old son, Kevin, was struggling with drug addiction. He died September 18, 2016, from an opioid overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl. Almost a year later, she and her husband still knew no one who'd lost a child to opioids. Even when she phoned to join a support group, no one called her back.

But Didick's despairing isolation ended in August when mysterious yard signs started cropping up in her town with a cryptic message: #2069. Curious, she plugged the hashtag into a search engine and found the community she'd been seeking. She landed at the #2069_signs Facebook page, where those affected by opioid addiction in southeast Massachusetts and beyond have begun coming together, finding resources and offering support.

"We're losing a whole generation -- I call it mass murder," Didick said. "I've now met a couple of people who have lost someone, through this campaign. It's been a great support system. A mom knows. We just give a mom hug and talk about things."

Didick's discovery happened exactly as the #2069 campaign organizers had hoped. #2069 captures the gruesome toll the epidemic is taking in Massachusetts. That's the number of people statewide estimated to have died from overdoses last year. (The 2016 tally has now been revised upward to more than 2,100.)

The campaign was designed both to make the epidemic visible and to create a way for its surviving victims to find each other. And it was conceived not by substance abuse experts or social media gurus but by a rural mainline Protestant church with peeling paint and about 50 worshippers on an average Sunday.

IDEAS THAT IMPACT: MINISTRY IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Worship planning after a crisis

While the suddenness and pain of a crisis often interrupts family, school, and work schedules, with a few significant exceptions, it usually does not disrupt worship itself. Worship goes on, and pastors and worship planners need to acknowledge the crisis in some way and answer the question of the people, which is usually: "Is there any word from the Lord in this situation?"

Read more from Nathan Kirkpatrick Â»

FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY

Stilling the Storm: Worship and Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times

by Kathleen S. Smith

When congregations go through difficult times, worship will both reflect and influence those difficulties. The practice of worship itself can be a key part of the congregation's healing process.

Teacher and consultant Kathleen Smith successfully demonstrates this truth in Stilling the Storm, a book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the ways that worship intertwines with the life and health of a congregations. There are three main types of difficulty congregations can face: times of crisis, transition, and conflict. Smith considers their differences, similarities, and implications for worship, and explains the congregational dynamics that accompany such times and the roles that leaders play. She reviews basic principles of worship and the ways that unique moments and regular habits of worship shape the congregation. For each type of difficulty she suggests important themes for congregations and their worship planners. Smith explores the wide range of liturgical resources available for congregations going through difficult times and how those resources can best be shaped to fit the specific situation they are experiencing.

A perceptive guide to the worship we offer to God in all times and situation, Stilling the Storm is an important resource for all congregations of all worship traditions.

Learn more and order the book Â»

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