Take the Next Step: Reaching More People, Younger People, More Diverse People
Dinner and Symposium Honoring Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr. From seminary student to seminary president, and from local church pastor to founding director of the…
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Online Course: “Maintaining Boundaries in a Digital Age”
Maintaining Boundaries in a Digital Age, an online course in the Keeping Our Sacred Trust series, explores issues of clergy ethics in an era of instantaneous electronic…
Clergy Age Trends In The United Methodist Church: 1985-2017
Download the complete 2017 Clergy Age Trends Report. Highlights of the 2017 Report Number of Young Elders Shows Downturn in 2017 After three consecutive years…
“Protect, Sustain, Grow: Best Practices for Handling Your Church’s Money” Conference and Livestream
Saturday, March 10 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Eastern (9 a.m.-12 p.m. Central) Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC Managing church finances requires skill, dedication, and know-how, but…
50 Ways To Strengthen Adult Education
Vital churches provide ways for people of all ages to grow in faith through learning. These 50 Ways can help your congregation build a strong…
The Gifts of Lovett Weems: “A Theological Mind and a Pastor’s Heart” through the Years
When Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., transitions into a new role as Senior Consultant for the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, it marks the next…
Events Planned to Honor Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Save the date! To honor the work of Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Wesley Theological Seminary the Lewis Center have planned several events for September 28-29,…
Top Lewis Center Resources of 2016
Lewis Center resources guide you in strengthening your personal leadership and renewing your congregation. Following are our most popular free and purchased resources of the…
Engaging Young Adults — Free Video
Engaging young adults in church, historically a challenge, is even more difficult today. So what should your congregation do? And not do? This brief video…
50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign
Church members who make pledges give substantially more than those who do not, and congregations that seek annual financial commitments have significantly higher levels of…
50 Ways to Increase Active Engagement
Strong and growing congregations typically have a very high percentage of people who are actively involved in learning, serving, and leading. These 50 tips will…
Games People Play During Budget Season
Is budget season in your church plagued with political maneuvering and game playing? Watch out for some of these common ploys that Richard J. Vargo…
To the Point: Should Pastors Know What Members Give?
Every time I teach on stewardship, this question invariably comes up: “Should pastors have access to contribution records?” In some congregations, pastors are prohibited from…
To the Point: Suggestions for Churches with a Clergywoman
Celebrate your new pastor. Know that your new pastor continues a tradition of women in ministry going back to biblical times. Do all that you…
To the Point: Connecting Generosity to Faith
Several of my family members have worked as restaurant servers. They give me a hard time about church people being terrible tippers. It seems that…
To the Point: Crafting Better Financial Commitment Messages
Many churches have a one-size-fits-all approach to their annual stewardship appeal. Everyone in the congregation receives the same “Dear Friend” letter inviting them to prayerfully…
To the Point: Giving Up to Our Potential
It’s often said that Christians are the most generous people. Unfortunately, it turns out this claim is not entirely true. Even though Christians are more…
To the Point: What about Tithing and the Prosperity Gospel
Many Christians tend to oversimplify the essence of scripture’s teaching with regard to money in such statements as “Christians must tithe” or “the faithful will…
To the Point: Teaching Children to Tithe
Teaching children to tithe is an important part of their faith education that we often overlook. Giving to God is a core value of our…
To the Point: Why Women Are Clergy
The many Christian denominations that ordain women as clergy do so for sound biblical, historical, and theological reasons — even though there are traditions that…
To the Point: 8 Reasons People Aren’t Listening to Announcements
This weekend, all across the country, leaders are going to get up in front of their churches and talk about upcoming events and opportunities to…
50 Ways to Take Church to the Community
Churches can no longer open their doors and expect that people will come in. Effective congregations go into the world to encounter those in need…
To the Point: Suggestions for Churches with a Single Pastor
All clergy face many challenges. But single persons in ministry can face a unique set of challenges around maintaining boundaries, privacy, and social connections, particularly…
To the Point: Unclutter Your Church
What needs to die in your church? We begin the journey of restarting your church by allowing for, even encouraging, places of death. We choose…
To the Point: Suggestions for Churches with a Young Pastor
Churches that receive a young pastor need to remember how lucky they are. Many congregations say they want a younger pastor, but few have the…
To the Point: Ways Established Church Leaders Can Work with Young Clergy
It is incumbent upon those who are older to reach out to their younger colleagues. Those who are younger are not nearly as likely to…
To the Point: Why Young Clergy Matter
“Younger clergy aren’t necessarily better. They’re just younger. And that matters.” — Lovett H. Weems, Jr. In recent decades, many North American churches have suffered…
50 Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving
Helping people experience the joy of giving is more than a way of funding the church’s ministry. These 50 Ways of encouraging faithful giving will…
To the Point: Metrics: A Tool for Learning, Not Judging
The current focus on setting numerical goals for ministry and reporting results is not new, though now greatly expanded. In the past, virtually all goals…