Three New Financial Stewardship Books
Three established authors on the subject of congregational finances have new books to help congregations develop joyful and generous givers. Each author has important contributions…
Author
Lovett H. Weems Jr.
Lovett H. Weems Jr. is senior consultant at the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, distinguished professor of church leadership emeritus at Wesley Theological Seminary, and author of several books on leadership.
Denominations Face Major Reset
Most congregations know the financial squeeze of recent years from the economic recession. What is more striking is that the financial downturn for denominations is…
Mission as the Emerging Entry Point for New People
It is intriguing that the first connection people have with a congregation tends to change from time to time. For churches with struggling adult Sunday…
Families Remain Important as Their Makeup Changes
While generational differences receive much attention, it is remarkable how people’s highest values tend to stay relatively constant from one generation to another. However, the…
What About the Second Pastors in New Congregations?
While many studies report on the work of church planters, few studies examine the experience of “second pastors,” those who follow founding pastors of new…
Churches Where Youth Exhibit Highly Devoted Faith
Kenda Creasy Dean reports in her book Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (Oxford University Press, 2010) that…
The Multisite Church Movement
A new report by the Leadership Network reports on the current state of churches having more than one site. Below are some of the findings…
From Our Doorsteps: Developing a Ministry Plan That Makes Sense
Many churches today desperately need to fall in love with their communities again. Increasingly, congregational life and community life spin in different orbits with little…
When Christians Get It Wrong
For several decades now, many have watched in amazement as churches grew far larger than had been the norm previously in the United States. While…
Church Leadership: Vision, Team, Culture, Integrity Revised Edition
Much has changed since the first edition of Lovett Weems’s seminal work Church Leadership appeared in 1993. But the need for clear, insightful thinking about…
Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results
Thousands of congregations are in serious trouble. Children are not being taught the faith. Disciples are not being made. Lives are not being transformed. The…
Find a Few Wise People
When pastors tell me about particularly troubling dilemmas they face in their congregations, perhaps the most common advice I offer is, “Find a wise person,”…
If You Count the Money, Count the People
At a recent gathering, clergy and laity from several congregations were asked how they keep track of their attendance each Sunday and how they keep…
Churches Face Changing Demographics
The American Community Survey provides an ongoing demographic portrait of the country and is the largest survey that the Census Bureau administers other than the…
Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations
In Promise and Peril (Alban, 2009), David Brubaker tackles the conundrum churches face: Change usually leads to conflict, but change is required to make progress.…
New Findings about American Congregations
Building on previous reports from 2000 and 2005, the Cooperative Congregations Studies Partnership based at Hartford Seminary has released a new research report on congregational…
The Four Stages of a Pastoral Transition
A time of transition for a pastor can be both exciting and terrifying. The possibility of a new start with its challenges and opportunities brings…
Two Myths Relevant to Reaching Younger and More Diverse People
Each Sunday The Washington Post has a feature in the opinion section dealing with common myths about a particular topic. Noted demographer William H. Frey…
Can We Learn from Toyota?
My Wesley faculty colleague Jessicah Duckworth called my attention to a National Public Radio story about the mistakes that led to the recall crisis Toyota…
Credibility Essential for Leadership
Credibility is the foundation upon which all effective leadership builds. It is the “operating capital” from which leaders draw to advance the vision. There are…
How Do New People See Your Church?
With all the strengths of a church, the challenge is always to think of everything from arrival through departure from the perspective of someone who…
The Wisdom of Ants
I was struck recently by an article that begins with a statement about ants by Stanford biologist Deborah Gordon. “Ants aren’t smart,” she wrote in…
Planning for Attendance Seasons in the Church Year
We are used to thinking of the seasons of the Christian year such as Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent. There are also attendance seasons that follow…
Parking Lot Hospitality
Most churches give attention to welcoming newcomers to church once they reach the church doors. Often they will be welcomed by both greeters and ushers.…
Do Our Assumptions Still Fit?
Peter Drucker maintains that organizational problems are not the result of groups doing things poorly or even doing the wrong things. Organizations fail, he contends,…
Saving Money without Sacrificing Ministry
In light of the current economic environment, how are churches reining in their budgets without reducing the quality of ministry? Last month, the Lewis Center…
Where Would Jesus Shop?
I was intrigued recently to read of conversations going in the Church of England. Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Reading, received considerable media attention when he…
Affirming and Improving Clergy Effectiveness
Clergy effectiveness is on the mind of virtually every denominational leader today. Indeed, many judicatories have initiatives underway to define, assess, and improve clergy effectiveness.…
New Tool to Help Clergy Get Feedback
The Lewis Center has worked with hundreds of clergy, and we know that clergy want to improve. But often they do not feel they have…
The Importance of Clergy Mentoring
The early years of ministry are often beset with predictable anxieties and questions. Even with the best of seminary training, new pastors quickly discover that…