Rev. Margaret Marcuson
Rev. Margaret MarcusonLeader, Author, SpeakerMarcuson Leadership Circle Services / Programs
Marcuson Leadership Circle offers a number of services and programs intended to increase the leadership capabilities of clergy and lay leaders. All of my work applies to the issues and challenges you face in your church right now. They include: Ministry Coaching Program: One-on-one support for pastoral leaders This program is for clergy who want to increase their capacity to lead their congregation and to significantly improve the contribution they make to the ministry. Click here for more details. Group Ministry Coaching (virtual and face-to-face) Bring your toughest ministry dilemmas and find a new perspective on how to face them, and learn from the challenges others bring. Stop staying awake at night! Click here for more details. Congregational Leadership Development Enhance your leadership by enhancing the people and their ministries within your congregation. This is for clergy and churches ready to move forward and develop both their pastoral leadership and the initiative of lay leadership. Click here for more details. Speaking and workshops Margaret introduces clergy and church leaders to a new approach to leadership, through engaging and interactive presentations that give leaders a greater sense of their own resources and the possibilities of leadership. Money and Your Ministry Do you dread stewardship? Is your salary stagnant? Does your church fight about money—or keep secrets about it? This program will help you learn a way to understand what’s really going on (in us and in others) when money becomes an issue in congregational life, and how to lead around money with lowered anxiety and more clarity. What you will take away with you: a new way to approach the money challenges we all face at church. How to Lead in a Harsh Climate What does it take to survive a harsh climate? What qualities do leaders need in challenging times? Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton turned a disastrous expedition into a triumph of survival. His leadership overcame the elements, difficult personalities, and one setback after another. This workshop will explore how Shackleton’s story illustrates the way leaders must manage their own anxiety and develop a clear vision and direction. Like Shackleton, pastoral leaders today need stamina to stay the course over time, and creativity to imagine a new and different future. Four Keys to Handling Church Politics Why do we get stressed from relating to others, especially in the inevitable times of conflict? How can we relate to others, whether staff or church members, in a way that reduces stress and increases ministry effectiveness? The four keys give you a way to look at problems differently and more productively. Your take-away? A new approach to the relationship challenges we all face in ministry. May I Help You? What Really Helps People Grow There is a way of helping that creates dependency and there’s a way of helping that prompts people to grow. In this presentation you’ll learn ways to deal with stress in ministry (and other) relationships that make you a truly helpful leader who knows how to avoid over-responsibility. You will get clear about the kind of "helping" creates dependency, and what kind doesn’t. Benefits for church leaders : An effective approach to conflict which allows you and other church leaders to take a stand with difficult people and to ride out conflict instead of being thrown by it. You’ll be able to experience the ups and downs of congregational life with more grace and less stress. More energy and clarity for your ministry. As you understand where you are headed you will be less overwhelmed by the demands of the congregation and more able to make choices about what you will and won’t do. You’ll be clearer about the boundaries in your ministry.
Comments from Clients: Marianne LaBarre, Director, Pastoral Leadership Program, School of Theology and Ministry, Seattle University Margaret combines wit with her wisdom and a down to heart, personal style that sets people at ease. Within the trusting context that she creates she is able to engage persons in ministry to take on challenges that bring more health and well being into their personal and professional lives and also into their congregational settings. I greatly value Margaret’s expertise in the area of pastoral coaching. Both with individuals and small groups she brings a wealth of experience and understanding to pastoral issues and in how to create healthy systems. Margaret is a team player and I highly recommend her as a gifted leadership coach, presenter and group facilitator. Ministry Coaching Program David Hutchinson, Associate Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Portland, OR As a pastor, I try to develop effective leadership skills, and often wish I had a guide. I have read books on conflict, leadership, management, systems theory, and all sorts of things. The books have good ideas, but applying them is often more tricky. Recently I have found someone who brings the books to life, and brings together theory and practice. She is Margaret Marcuson…I feel that she has helped me relax a little as I consider difficult situations, and find better strategies to lead. I would recommend her without hesitation to other clergy as a resource. Congregational Leadership Development Wm. Wayne Brown, Executive Minister, American Baptist Churches of Oregon Consultants must listen before they can help their clients. Margaret does that so well. Margaret brings to group and individual situations a keen sense of insight, out of which she shares ways to help those involved move forward in their relationships in a positive way. |
Margaret J. Marcuson is a leader of leaders, ordained minister, and teacher and student of human systems. She speaks and writes on leadership and works with faith leaders nationally as a consultant/coach through her company Marcuson Leadership Circle, based in Portland, Oregon. Margaret became deeply interested in leadership during her thirteen years as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Gardner. “Over time I shifted from attempting the impossible—changing others—to the merely difficult—changing myself,” she says. Her work focuses on how leaders manage themselves in relation to those they lead. They can challenge those they lead, and nurture their relationship with those they lead, but they cannot will others to change. “For me as a leader this was profoundly freeing,” she says. Margaret is on the faculty of the Leadership in Ministry workshops. (www.leadershipinministry.com) She is a frequent guest preacher in churches. Her seminar and conference speaking and consulting crosses denominations, including the American Baptist Churches, United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church of God (Anderson), Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Unitarian and Episcopal. She is often called on to guide clergy through personal and congregational crisis. She is the author of The Leadership Adventure: 21 Readings to Prompt Thoughtful Leadership and 111 Tips to Survive Pastoral Ministry. She has written for numerous print and online publications including Clergy Journal, Faith@Work, Leading Ideas, and Leadership in Ministry. Her monthly essay on leadership, The Leadership Adventure, has over 600 subscribers. Margaret has a Master of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, and is an ordained American Baptist minister and a member of the First Baptist Church of Portland, OR. She studied with Edwin Friedman, author of Generation to Generation, and at the Center for Family Process, and is an ongoing student of Bowen Family Systems Theory, a natural systems approach to human relationships. Margaret is an amateur singer. She says, “I see singing as a metaphor for life and leadership. We are all in the business of finding our own voice in this world, and in the institutions we lead.” You will find out why Margaret’s notoriety as a new leadership voice is mounting, and why leaders look to Margaret for intelligent, provocative alternatives to the relentless responsibilities of leadership. Margaret is the 2009 President-Elect of the Oregon National Speakers Association
Booking Info: Gail Hand |
