FOUR NEW BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE

Three new books by LIM faculty or former faculty and a new collection of Ed Friedman’s writings have recently been published. Margaret Marcuson, LIM faculty member, is the author of Leaders Who Last; former LIM faculty member, Ronald Richardson’s latest book is Becoming Your Best: A Self-Help Guide for Thinking People; and faculty member and newsletter editor, Israel Galindo’s latest is Perspectives On Congregational Leadership. What Are You Going To Do With Your Life? is a collection of Ed Friedman’s unpublished writings and diaries. All of these important books will be reviewed in upcoming issues of the LIM E-newsletter. If you are not in the data base for email announcements of the E-newsletter postings, send us an email request to be included.

We welcome these books as they join other resources listed below by present or past LIM faculty and Ed Friedman.

Local Peer Groups

One of the goals of this web site is to help congregational leaders network with others who are interested in relating family systems (Bowen) theory to ministry. Many of the persons involved in the workshops meet regularly to work on ministry case studies and family of origin issues with others who share the same orientation. Some of these groups meet with an outside coach/ resource person and some do not. Let us know if you are a member of such a group. For a listing of the groups that we know about – - and a contact person’s email address – - check out this link.

Words of Encouragement for Your Family of Origin Work

As I am learning to view life through Bowenian lenses, I am increasingly aware that great dramatists and writers already think this way – - even though they have probably never heard of Murray Bowen, emotional triangles or multigenerational emotional process. Videos and DVD’s of motion pictures are a basic ingredient in the workshops and I constantly receive recommendations about books, plays and movies from workshop participants. The realities of life depicted in the work of great artists are the same realities encountered by all of us who dare to live into our own families of origin.

I found words of insight and encouragement in an article in the February 18, 2001, issue of The Washington Post’s Book World by David Baldacci, a lawyer who is also a writer of bestselling mystery thrillers. His comments are about his novel, Wish You Well, a story about family, memory and love. LM

click here for the article Words of Encouragement

"May I Help You?

Faculty member, Margaret Marcuson, does some creative theological reflection on Bowen Theory and Christian ethics. She writes: "Where my own thinking has been headed with this lately has to do with ‘doing good,’ ‘helping others,’ and the question of invasiveness. This is related to the notion of the overfunctioning/underfunctioning reciprocity."
 

"Through the Telescope and Microscope"

I first read Eric Holmstrom’s article in The Journal of Pastoral Care. In it he ponders the role of life’s mystery while wearing his three hats as a binocular astronomer, a student of Bowen Theory and a Clinical Pastoral Education resident. A participant in the Leadership In Ministry Workshops, he has pastored in local churches and presently works as a Chaplain Resident at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, PA.

Soon after Ed Friedman’s death, Doug Hester asked himself the question: What would a conversation between Ed Friedman and Murray Bowen sound like now? He dedicated his answer to: "… the memory of my mentor, Edwin H. Friedman, who taught me the value of humor in the midst of seriousness, and how deeply playfulness touches us."
    

The Day Ed and Murray Were Reunited

The 1998 J. C. Wynn Lecture at Colgate Rochester Divinity School: "Leadership: Hope for Family and Church – Theology and Family Systems Theory in Dialogue"

In November, 1998, Larry Matthews presented the annual J. C. Wynn Lecture and Seminar on church and family at Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, New York.

Leadership: Hope for Church and Family

Other Training Programs in Ministering to Congregations as Family Systems

I have contacted the few long-term training programs I know about and asked if they wished to be listed on this website. The ones who responded are listed and others will be added as I hear from them. Susannah Smith is a participant in the LIM workshops. I met Doug Hester and Larry Foster when I taught with Ed Friedman in Bethesda, MD, and have presented in seminars with both of them. Dr. Michael Kerr, who is Director of the Georgetown Family Center, has participated in the Lost River LIM workshops. I have also taught with Roberta Gilbert, another of our LIM workshop presenters, in her training program and I have presented at the Center for Family Process, Healthy Congregations and the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center– Larry Matthews