In this episode of the Care Ministry Podcast, host Laura Howe is joined by Rebecca Bailey for a rich conversation on how spiritual formation functions as preventative care within church care ministries. Together, they explore why care and formation cannot be separated, how spiritual formation shows up across Hope Made Strong’s five-part Model of Care (self, community, peer, pastoral, and professional), and why care is less about fixing problems and more about being present and becoming formed alongside one another. This episode invites leaders to move beyond reactive care toward cultivating cultures that sustain people before crisis hits.

• “If in our care ministries we’re focused on the doing and the fixing, then we will miss the being and the becoming.” –Rebecca Bailey
• “Spiritual formation is happening on the inside and the outside—it’s circular. What happens between us forms us.” –Rebecca Bailey
• “Care has historically been reactive in the church. Spiritual formation helps us think about care as preventative.” –Laura Howe
• “Spiritual formation isn’t about adding more programs. It’s about becoming more intentional with what’s already happening.” –Rebecca Bailey
• “Good spiritual formation in care ministries keeps teams from absorbing what they were never meant to carry.” –Rebecca Bailey

• Hope Made Strong Book Club
• HMS Amazong store 🇨🇦Link, 🇺🇸Link
• Download the Model of Care

Website: HopeMadeStrong.org

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In this episode of The Care Ministry Podcast, Laura Howe is joined by psychologists, spiritual directors, and Soul Shepherding founders Bill Gaultiere and Kristi Gaultiere for a deeply honest conversation about empathy, burnout, and spiritual formation. Drawing from decades of counseling, ministry leadership, and personal experience, the Gaultieres unpack why empathy is “oxygen for the soul” and how self-judgment, emotional disconnection, and over-functioning can quietly lead caregivers toward compassion fatigue. They explore what empathy truly is (and what it is not), how Jesus models empathy throughout the Gospels, and why receiving God’s empathy is essential for sustainable care, healthy boundaries, and long-term ministry fruitfulness.

• “Empathy is oxygen for the soul. Without it, we may survive—but we won’t thrive.” –Kristi Gaultiere
• “The instrument we bring to others isn’t our skills or our training—it’s who we are with God.” –Bill Gaultiere
• “We often don’t care what someone knows until we know that they care.” –Kristi Gaultiere
• “True growth happens when empathy is joined with truth and responsibility.” –Bill Gaultiere
• “If we try to empathize with everyone, everywhere, all the time, we will drain our soul. Empathy must be stewarded.” –Kristi Gaultiere

• Soul Shepherding
• Get your Book Club book!
• Care Ministry Collective

Website: HopeMadeStrong.org

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In this episode of the Care Ministry Podcast, host Laura Howe sits down with Jennifer Bowen, Executive Director of Shalem Mental Health Ministries, to reflect on hosting a Local Church Mental Health Summit in Canada. Jennifer shares the heart, strategy, and lessons learned from hosting a multi-day summit that brought together pastors, therapists, educators, and ministry leaders to explore faith and mental health together. The conversation covers why embodiment and hospitality matter, how to scale summits to fit any community, and why collaboration across sectors is essential for sustainable care. This episode is both practical and visionary for leaders considering hosting a local summit or partnering more intentionally around mental health.

Quotes

• “Mental health is part of our health journey. The brain is a beautiful, complicated, and fragile organ—and sometimes it goes a bit funky.”
  — Jennifer Bowen
• “We wanted to embody mental wellness in the entire experience, not just talk about it from a stage.”
  — Jennifer Bowen
• “The in-between moments—the hallways, the meals, the conversations—were as rich as the sessions themselves.”
  — Jennifer Bowen
• “This wasn’t about one voice leading the conversation. It became a mural of many voices coming together.”
  — Jennifer Bowen
• “The local summits are meant to be a choose-your-own-adventure—designed around the capacity and context of your community.”
  — Laura Howe

Resources

• Host a Local Summit

Connect with Hope Made Strong

Website: HopeMadeStrong.org

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