When All Else Fails: Rethinking Our Pastoral Vocation in Times of Stuck
A must-have book for local pastors, CPE supervisors and students, and all who have the potential to find themselves 'stuck.' Menking uses Friedman's creative work as a platform to launch out into the world of pastoral care and leadership where so many do find themselves stuck and the result is burnout. His use of stories from his practice, biblical tradition, and theological heritage serve to push one to look deeper into oneself. --David C. Johnson, President, The Association for Clinical Pastoral EducationThis book will change your approach to pastoral care. Menking challenges the concept of pastoral care as passive listening or making people feel comfortable. Drawing upon Friedman, Menking shows how sympathy sabotages recovery and a failure of nerve leaves everyone stuck. Instead, he proposes that caregiving is leadership. A theologian of the cross harbors no illusions about our condition. As a people of the resurrection we look death in the eye, and invite people to a new reality. --Michael Rinehart, Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America