The Non-Anxious Leader: Family Systems Basics 

Anxious times and anxious institutions require non-anxious leaders. Effective leadership depends on being able to separate your personal anxieties from the issues that affect your church or organization. Based on the book, Anxious Church, Anxious People: How to Lead Change in an Age of Anxiety, this course will provide you with a basic understanding of how to begin the journey toward becoming an effective, non-anxious leader. Learn why understanding your own family of origin is the key to effective leadership, what you can do to grow in this capacity, and the most important characteristic of effective leaders.

This course consists of a series of brief recorded presentations that can be viewed at your convenience within the timeline of the course. Interaction with the instructor and other students is facilitated through online discussion threads. There will also be three live online discussions on Wednesday April 22, Wednesday April 29, and Thursday May 7, all at 5pm. These sessions will be recorded for students who are unable to participate. Live participation or viewing of recorded sessions is required for CEU credit.

The course includes a PDF a copy of Anxious Church, Anxious People: How to Lead Change in an Age of Anxiety by Jack Shitama. Other resources to get the most out of this course (but not required): Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue and Friedman’s Fables, both by Edwin Friedman.

Successful completion of this course results in 3.0 CEU’s.

Course dates: April 13, 2026 - May 10, 2026
FREE to lay and clergy members of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conferences.

The deadline to register is April 6, 2026.

Contact Jack Shitama at jack@pecometh.org with questions.