Hope Named Is Hope Claimed

(I’m having a hope moment)

Hope named is hope claimed.

Sometimes our hope is challenged by obstacles that keep us from our goals. Ever since I discovered hope psychology, I’ve seen the potential for helping churches and anyone who’s lived through a time of decline. Shoot, with the current state of politics and division in America, who doesn’t need some practical hope?

Step one was what I needed to do for myself: writing a thesis for the academic world. (Yeah, I have a strange set of needs. :) )

Then, right when I sat down with hopes of sharing it more broadly with a book, COVID hit, and for a while none of our brains were capable of much else. Eventually, I started a blog. It was good, but who reads blogs anymore? THEN, upon sharing my book chapters with a trusted mentor, I realized I was still off base. I was essentially still writing a thesis, not connecting with the people I wanted to reach.

Somewhere along the line, I taught a class on hope to fellow pastors. Then I had the incredible privilege to teach a doctoral-level course on church renewal, including hope renewal. I have more teaching opportunities on the horizon, too, that will reach a broader group of church leaders.

All of these steps have shown me that my work on hope connects with people and can help many. Teaching is fantastic, and I do not take it for granted, but my gut tells me this “practical hope” is needed more widely still. But how to do it?

We experience hope when we know we can do something and when we know how to get there. As the researchers call it,

hope = agency + pathways

My struggle has been that I was confident in the power of these ideas and my ability to do it (agency), but I struggled with how to make it happen (pathway). It wasn’t that I didn’t have hope, but my hope was incomplete.

Now, I’ve rebooted my book project and completely changed how I present things. It makes it quite easy to read, I think. It’s a new pathway.

Then came a second pathway: a vision for this newsletter. As I continue to work on the book, I can write here to give people like you more hope while also giving you the tools you need to share that hope with others. You, then, become a valued part of shaping the project to spread hope to more people still.

I plan to look for where “practical hope” and “ultimate hope,” as I call them, are happening naturally in the world around us and share the observations with you. Hope named is hope claimed.

Along the way, you’ll learn more about how hope works, too, and learn to see it for yourself.

I aim to write weekly, though I’m sure there will be times when life gets in the way. But hey, the other thing I’ve already proven, is that when something is worth sharing— like hope— no obstacle can keep it down for long.

Hope named is hope claimed. Here we go. Welcome!