Play. Tell. Be.
Postures for Leading and Living Well
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
Since childhood days playing the recorder in worship, Sarah Agnew has been invited to lead her church communities. What do others see and feel, that they choose to follow her? Trust in a playful process, in the magic of "failing"? Trust in, and deep listening to, Sacred and human stories? Trust in Sacred Presence and the profound gift of turning up to be with each other? While outside voices celebrated leadership as being charisma-driven in a CEO style, Agnew knew herself to be an artist--creative, alternative. Personally, as chronic pain and illness grow ever dominant, Agnew knows herself to need a slower, gentler pace. Playfully, with creativity, this book tells a story of becoming, of developing a Rule of Sacred Presence, telling one person's story in order to encourage yours.
Endorsements (5)
“Sarah’s honest and insightful work is the fruit of her courage, imagination, and hard-won wisdom. Sarah prayerfully and poetically sketches the sacred terrain of vocation, risk, imagination, struggle, stillness, and growth. Her reflections will draw you into a longing for greater wholeness and embodiment in your own life—to play, to tell, and be.”
“Pastors face impossible expectations: create innovative ministries (but not too innovative), maintain our sacred traditions (but don’t be too churchy), and pour yourself out for others (but schedule some self-care!). In Play. Tell. Be., Sarah Agnew offers a new way for clergy and lay leaders, one that enables us to be our truest selves while engaging the joys and challenges of ministry. It is life-giving. It is necessary. It is liberating.”
“Sarah Agnew leads us through Play. Tell. Be. with ease and wit, her graceful prose matched only by a poetry as raw as it is rhythmic. Using her own stories as entry points, this brilliant storyteller-poet-minister offers a grounded hope in ways even more meaningful because she’s lived them. Sarah is the real deal—a twenty-first-century bard—and this book, with its opportunities for reflection, rest, and renewal, is a real gift.”
“This is a very honest account of Sarah’s life and her ministry. She charts her movement away from church and then back into its center. Underneath these events she grapples with the challenges she faces from her health issues and her own wellbeing. For anyone involved in church leadership you will find rest and renewal for your soul in reading this and learning from Sarah’s journey.”
“In contrast to how we are often driven to think about successful outcomes, Sarah uses thoughtful and thought-provoking self-reflection to consider how she teaches and learns, gives and receives, follows and leads. She invites us to consider our connections to her stories and provides prompts to creatively consider what has passed and what is emerging.”
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