Speaking and Consulting

Contact Sarah directly with inquiries related to preaching, speaking, workshop leadership, coaching, and consulting. Her topics of interest are change leadership, United Church of Christ Polity, and developing leaders for mission-motivated institutions. Previous clients have included:

  • Graduate theological schools attempting new forms of partnership

  • Divinity and theological school faculty members learning about their roles in student learning assessment

  • Churches living into new governance structures

  • Institutional leaders weathering crises

Articles, Interviews, and More

 

Speaking Engagements

Service and Sermon from May 26, 2024 at the United Church in Walpole, MA

Service and Sermon from September 4, 2022 at First Baptist Church in Suffield, CT

Service and sermon from October 31, 2021 at the United Church of Christ in Darien, CT

Sermon from October 3, 2021, at First Congregational Church in Stockbridge, MA

Interview with David Finegold, President of Chatham University, in a series entitled The Future of Higher Education

Interview on Round Hill Radio about what brought Andover Newton to New Haven

Three-person conversation with interviewer Curtis Ramsey-Lucas and co-interviewee Jeffrey Haggray in the series: Justice. Mercy. Faith on social awareness in ministry

Book talk with Chris Davies in the UCC National setting on Sharing Leadership: a UCC Way of Being in-Community

Preaching engagement at Ocean Park Temple July 18, 2021

Book talk with Chris Owens, host of “What In God’s Name,” about Dynamic Discernment: Reason, Emotion, and Power

Selected Articles

https://serials.atla.com/wabashcenter/issue/view/356/SarahDrummond_JaQuanBeachem, February 2024

A Hardworking Protestant’s Unease with “Ease” | Reflections (yale.edu), May 2024

https://christiancitizen.us/is-the-church-collapsing/, June 2023

The In-Ministry MDiv, in the Journal of Religious Leadership, Spring 2016

Experiential Education, in the Christian Education Journal, 2009

Institutional Pain, in the Journal of Religious Leadership Spring 2007

Learning, Leadership, and Rapid Change in the Journal of Religious Leadership, August 28, 2006

Books

Intentional Leadership In Between Times. The Pilgrim Press, 2022

Sharing Leadership: A United Church of Christ Way of Being in Community. The Pilgrim Press, 2021

Dynamic Discernment: Reason, Emotion, and Power in Faith Community Change Leadership. The Pilgrim Press, 2019

Leading Change in Campus Religious Life. Scholars’ Press, 2015

Holy Clarity: The Practice of Planning and Evaluation. The Alban Institute, 2009

“The work” includes: 

  • differentiating ourselves from the communities we lead, rather than fusing with them emotionally, riding their every up and down like a roller-coaster;

  • learning good leadership theories to guide us;

  • reflecting deeply on our leadership successes and failures;

  • trying all kinds of new experiences so as to become and remain accustomed to the discomfort that comes with unfamiliarity;

  • becoming more attuned to our contexts through showing up and building relationships; and

  • delving into the stories of other leaders and communities so we might learn through their experiences.

If we’re willing to do the work of leadership development, we find ourselves growing in strength and wisdom, rather than tossed about by the crisis du jour.