Grieving Well; Upcoming Clergy Retreat

Louisiana NOW

In this episode, we are joined by Rev. Dr. Vicki Loflin Johnson and Rev. Ali Young, Director of Clergy Excellence in The Louisiana Conference, to talk about the upcoming clergy retreat called Grieving Well.

Clergy are expected to share the burden of others’ grief as well as the collective grief of the institutions we serve. In the midst of caring for others, how can we make space for tending our own souls?

In this one-day retreat we will consider ways that we as leaders might faithfully tend our own grief while teaching and encouraging our congregations to do the same. We will share ideas and resources to help create personal and congregational rituals for mourning. We will reflect together about the potential benefits and positive outcomes when we practice grieving well.

Our day apart will be led by Dr. Johnson who believes that tending our grief is an essential wellbeing practice for ministry leaders in every season, and especially in response to the last several years of leadership in the church.

Join Vicki for this intentional conversation about healing and wholeness. She served for 30 years in the Mississippi Conference in a variety of settings—small church pastor, clergy couple co-appointment, executive pastor, district superintendent, and nine years as senior pastor of a community-focused downtown church. Coaching professionally since 2015, she holds a Level 2/PCC credential with the International Coaching Federation, is a Lead Trainer with Coach Approach Skills Training (CAST) and created a Level 2 Leadership Coach Specialization through Radiant Coaches Academy. Vicki is also certified as an Intentional Interim Ministry Specialist, Spiritual Director, and 200-hour E-RYT yoga instructor. In 2020, she founded The Art of WellBeing (www.coachingtheartofwellbeing.com) —offering individual and group coaching in support of clergy leadership and wellbeing. Vicki and her husband Roger live in East Texas.