Your Brain Won’t Work as Well, Tips for Spiritual Leaders During COVID-19

Life giving, encouraging, hopeful, uniting. These are some of the words that were shared after a discussion with the Women’s Ministry Cluster on this article, Your Brain Won’t Work as Well, Tips for Spiritual Leaders during COVID-19 by Pastor Emily Scott of the Lutheran Church (ELCA). This article shares insights from her experience during Hurricane Sandy in New York City, with applications for today. 

Pastor Emily shares 10 simple things she’s learned, beginning with this one: 

• Your brain won’t work as well. Stress messes with your sequencing, and ordering your thoughts gets hard. Try to do one thing at a time. 

She goes on to list 9 other things that were easily understood and discussed. Everyone in the group was able to relate closely to at least several of the points, and reading and discussing them gave those in the group permission to take an honest look at what they are feeling. The points offered by Pastor Emily Scott also offered suggestions for living with and through this crisis, such as this one:

• Pause to assess your gifts and your vocation, and how they might meet the need in this current moment. If you’re incredible at pastoral care, focus on delivering it. If you’re great at building new structures, do that. We’ll all have to adapt in this new time, but lean on gifts God gave you, and take a breath to decide how to focus your time.

The Women’s Ministry Cluster is an online group of women in ministry who gather for discussion and prayer. Our desire is to create a safe space for vulnerability, acceptance, sharing and learning. If you haven’t joined a Women’s Ministry Cluster group yet, sign up here.