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Leading Ideas
Delivered every Wednesday, our free e-newsletter Leading Ideas offers articles by thoughtful, cutting-edge leaders on subjects you care about — navigating change, reaching younger people, financing your ministry, communicating effectively — to help you be the leader God is calling you to be.

The Lewis Center is committed to helping congregations and denominations thrive and grow by providing ideas, research, resources, and training for vital and fruitful leadership. Through Leading Ideas, we share vignettes of leaders and congregations, book reviews, leadership quotes, and helpful “right questions” built around the premise that leaders don’t need answers — they need to know the right questions.

Leading Ideas
0 What Gets Celebrated Gets Replicated: Why Joy Drives Leadership

What if the key to lasting momentum in your church isn’t more pressure, but more joy? Brad Aycock shares five practical ways leaders can make joy and celebration a consistent part of their leadership strategy, showing how celebration shapes culture and strengthens mission. We just celebrated Easter. Churches were full. Energy was high. People showed up. Why? Because when something…

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Leading Ideas
0 When No Children Come Forward: How Churches Can Grow Young Again

If you’ve watched the number of children in worship shrink year after year, you’re not alone. But renewal is possible. Laura Heikes gives us four practical, joyful steps that helped one church go from “no kids this week” to a vibrant, diverse, growing group of children who are now woven into the life of the congregation. I remember Sundays at…

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Leading Ideas
0 Resurrection as a Call to Action

Easter is the high point of the Christian year. But Ann Michel says we can’t allow our celebrations to divert attention from the challenge of renewing the church. Drawing on the lessons of this decade and the biblical narrative, she writes that Easter is not an end point but rather a call to action. This article is adapted from an…

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Leading Ideas
0 96 Hours That Can Change You Too

As Holy Week approaches, many church leaders find themselves caught between the demands of planning meaningful worship and the deeper invitation of the story they are called to proclaim. In a season marked by intensity, expectation, and sacred responsibility, it can be easy to guide others through the journey without fully entering it ourselves. Jonathan Page offers four grounding reminders…

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Leading Ideas
0 10 Traits of Jesus as Transformational Leader

This article by Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer was originally published on September 2, 2015. Because it remains one of the most popular Leading Ideas articles ever, we are resharing it as we approach Easter. When studying the subject of transformational leadership, we should take a look at our own leader, Christ Jesus. He is the one who can…

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Leading Ideas
0 Harnessing Social Capital for Community Centered Ministry: An In-depth Interview with Angie Williams and Audrey Smith

What does it look like for churches to truly center their communities in their ministry? In this interview, Audrey Smith and Angie Williams explore the practice of community convening, emphasizing deep listening, relationship-building, and the power of social capital. Drawing from their work in Ettrick, Virginia, and with Open Table, they invite churches to move beyond assumptions, rediscover their neighbors,…

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Leading Ideas
0 Restoring God’s Image Through Worship

Worship does more than express what a church believes—it forms what a church comes to believe. The language congregations repeatedly use for God and the stories they highlight in worship shape how people understand the image of God. Dr. Allison A. Hickey explores how expanding worship language can help congregations more faithfully reflect the biblical vision that all people bear…

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Leading Ideas
0 An Inclusive Church Will Be a Growing Church

Healthy churches pay attention to the people God has placed around them. When ministry reflects the realities of the surrounding community, congregations bear fruit; when it does not, decline often follows. In this piece from his new book An Aura of Hope, Lovett H. Weems Jr. challenges leaders to ask a simple but revealing question: Who is missing—and how is…

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Leading Ideas
0 Turning Hospitality into Discipleship

Hospitality is more than a friendly greeting or a warm cup of coffee—it’s the soil where discipleship grows. Julie Hagen shares her journey of finding a welcoming faith community and explores how intentional, mutual hospitality can transform a church into a place where people are seen, loved, and ready to share God’s love with others. Here you’re safe. Here you’re…

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Leading Ideas
0 A Prayer You Can Replay: Extending Care through Voicemail

Looking for a simple, intimate way to extend your pastoral presence? Laura Heikes reminds us that a voicemail prayer only takes a few seconds to record but can be replayed for hours, days, or long nights of waiting. “Leave a message at the beep.” One of the best innovations in my pastoral ministry happened entirely by accident. A sassy, compassionate,…

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Leading Ideas
0 The Outside-Inside Parallel of Church Leadership

Lewis Center Director Jonathan Page says that church leadership today requires holding two realities at once: engaging the needs of the community while also forming disciples within the church. He draws on examples from two recent United Methodist gatherings to illustrate how faithful leadership requires movement between the life of the church and the life of the community it serves.…

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Leading Ideas
0 Getting Your Missions and Ministries Grant-Funded

Have you ever considered grant funding for your organization and felt daunted by the process before you even began? Micháela Murray wants to help demystify the process by breaking grant seeking into clear, manageable steps—covering eligibility, readiness, research, and proposal writing—so church leaders can move forward with clarity and confidence. If your church is operating outward-facing ministries of service, you’ve…

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Leading Ideas
0 Do Service Trips Matter for the Church’s Future?

How can faith move from theory to action in the lives of young leaders? Brittany Bethel, executive director of Cross Connection, shows how they equip students through service, curiosity, and community to practice a faith that transforms both themselves and their neighborhoods. There are few things I believe in more deeply than the work of Cross Connection. If we want…

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Leading Ideas
0 Lenten Contemplative Actions for Leaders

This Ash Wednesday, Lewis Center Director Jonathan Page invites church leaders to enter a season of contemplative action: a time to discern what to add, subtract, or multiply in their lives and leadership. By taking on assurance, incarnation, and “good trouble,” leaders can cultivate space for God’s direction. Growing up in the church, I thought Lent was a time for…

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Leading Ideas
0 Leadership as Learning to Sail the Spirit

In this reflection, Isaiah Park explores a vision of church leadership shaped not by control, but by trust in the Holy Spirit’s movement. Drawing on the metaphor of a wind tunnel and Paul’s storm-tossed journey in Acts 27, she invites leaders to focus less on saving the ship and more on saving lives. Wind tunnels are designed to do one…

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Leading Ideas
0 Drive Thru Ashes

Rev. Mack Strange describes a novel approach to community outreach on Ash Wednesday. His church offered a “drive-thru” station for imposition of ashes alongside a busy commuter route. This article was originally published on January 21, 2015. Because this remains an innovative ministry outreach approach that many churches can emulate, we are highlighting it again.  There are certain times of…

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Leading Ideas
0 Proactive Steps for Congregational Budget Success

Did your congregation struggle last year with budget shortfalls? If so, you’re not alone. Many congregations deal with being “in the red,” often due to a lack of awareness among members about church finances. Andreá Cummings offers practical strategies for proactive communication, transparent reporting, and inspiring generosity—helping churches close financial gaps and strengthen their mission. When I arrived at my…

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Leading Ideas
0 Workaholics Aren’t Heroes: Finding a Healthier Rhythm for Ministry

“I’m so busy!” How often do you say or think this throughout the week? We live in a society that glorifies hustle. But our culture’s obsession with busyness is not only counterproductive but also damaging to relationships, well-being, and ministry. In their book Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson critique workaholism, challenging us to rethink our approach to work…

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Leading Ideas
0 A Journey of Faith and Transformation: My Ministry in Las Vegas

Transformative leadership often begins not with certainty, but with vulnerability. In this reflection, Khalif Smith shares how arriving at a struggling church in Las Vegas became the starting point of renewal for himself, the congregation, and the community—revealing how faith, relationship, and adaptive leadership can spark lasting transformation. The summer of 2014 was a summer of transformation, for me personally…

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Leading Ideas
0 Some Considerations for Speaking Up

In times of public tragedy and social tension, church leaders are often left discerning whether and how to speak in faithful response. Recent events in Minnesota have sharpened these questions, prompting many leaders to search for answers. Lewis Center Director Jonathan Page offers five guiding principles for speaking with wisdom, humility, and conviction. Over the weekend, Alex Pretti was killed…

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Leading Ideas
0 Give the Mic Away: The Team-Based Shift That Grows Faithful Youth

What is the key to a vibrant, growing youth ministry? Many churches assume it’s finding the right youth director and offering programming so entertaining it can compete with every other option in a teenager’s life. But Laura Heikes shares how youth ministry in her congregation has grown in a different way—not by doing more for young people, but by choosing…

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Leading Ideas
0 Creating Digital Communities

Growing a large online audience doesn’t always create a healthy community. Brandon Robbins outlines a framework for discipleship that helps people see where they are on their journey, take the next steps, and support one another in following Jesus. It began as an escape from writing articles for my church’s newsletter. It became an online community of over 400,000 people.…

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Leading Ideas
0 Listening When You’re New in Town

Luke Edwards highlights a community-driven approach to leadership that centers spiritual discernment—listening to God, the congregation, and the surrounding community—to discover how the Spirit is already at work and inviting shared direction for ministry. The story goes that a pastor moved to a small town to start a new appointment. She knocked on every door in town and introduced herself.…

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Leading Ideas
0 Church Leadership Trends for 2026

As church leaders look toward 2026, familiar approaches to leadership are proving insufficient amid changing communities, evolving teams, and growing demands on leaders. Lewis Center Director Jonathan Page highlights key shifts shaping the year ahead and offers practical guidance for how church leaders can respond with clarity, collaboration, and purpose. As we begin a new year, I want to express…

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This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.