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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 4 Ways to Expand the Reach of Small Groups

How can you prevent your small groups from becoming inwardly focused and impenetrable to newcomers? Doug Powe and Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff outline four strategies to help groups maintain an outward focus and an invitational posture. Small groups are essential venues of personal and spiritual development for many in our faith communities. The intimacy of smaller gatherings…

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Leading Ideas
0 How to Know When You Need to Ask for Help

Is your cup empty? Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff writes that many church leaders feel drained by the demands of ministry in these challenging times. She says it’s important to recognize when you need help and outlines strategies to replenish your leadership capacity. “My cup overflows” proclaims the psalmist, yet many church leaders find their cups are almost…

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Leading Ideas
0 Lessons from the Fresh Expressions Movement: In-depth Interview with Luke Edwards

What can we learn from the Fresh Expression movement’s novel approach to forming new faith communities? Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff interviews Luke Edwards, a church developer from Western North Carolina. He shares how a process that begins with listening and relationship building can lead to the formation of new, nontraditional worshipping communities among those unlikely to attend…

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Leading Ideas
0 Youth Ministry by Any Other Name

Kenda Creasy Dean writes that today ministry with young people often means finding young people where they live and work and embedding the church beside them as they seek meaning, purpose, and belonging. She says that Christian social innovation, especially, has become an alternate context for ministry with young people. A few years ago, I was speaking at a large…

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Leading Ideas
0 Faith Leaders Are First Responders in Preventing Suicide

Anne Mathews-Younes writes that faith leaders and faith communities are in a unique position to prevent suicide. She shares information about how to recognize the warning signs for suicide, ask the suicide question, and get help for those who are at risk. More than 46,000 people died by suicide in 2020. It is the ninth most frequent cause of death…

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Leading Ideas
0 5 Stewardship Priorities for Incoming Pastors

What stewardship tasks require the attention of a pastor beginning ministry in a new congregational setting? Lovett H. Weems Jr. and Ann A. Michel of the Lewis Center Staff share a list of initial stewardship priorities for incoming pastors. When a pastor begins ministry in a new church there is much to learn and many areas of ministry demand attention.…

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Leading Ideas
0 Listening to Your Community

It’s easy to lose sight of the ways God is alive and at work in our communities without intentional efforts to know and understand our neighbors. Paul Nixon describes three strategies for reconnecting with the pulse of your community. Even if we have lived in the same neighborhood for decades, we may be surprised to discover more closely the experiences…

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Leading Ideas
0 Four Incarnational Benefits of Bivocational Ministry

Steven Van Ostran challenges the common perception that bivocational ministers are second class or somehow “less than” those serving full time. He names four specific ways bivocational ministry can make the church more present to the community, more relevant, and more prophetic. It has been my experience that bivocational ministers see themselves and are looked upon by others as second-class…

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Leading Ideas
0 A Simple Approach to Creating a Culture of Accountability for Ministry Leaders

Kelly Brown says that creating a culture of accountability can be simple. SIMPLE is an acronym for remembering these six key principles: setting expectations, inviting commitment, measuring progress, providing feedback, linking consequences, and evaluating effectiveness. Unfortunately, in our culture today, accountability is most often seen as a negative or punitive action. Too often accountability shows up when something goes wrong,…

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Leading Ideas
0 Christian Social Innovation Starts with Who, Not Why or How

Churches do their best innovating when they focus less on “great ideas” or attempting to “fix the church” and more on the needs and longings of the people in their communities. Kenda Creasy Dean reminds us that love is the relentless driver of Christian social innovation. I hate the word innovation. It is one of those terms used so promiscuously…

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Leading Ideas
0 Learning to Underreact

Overreacting to the criticism and complaints that are an inevitable part of ministry leadership only ups the emotional ante. Dan Hotchkiss says learning to underreact is a critical skill for every church leader and offers three tips for turning down the temperature. Criticism: it’s ubiquitous in congregations. No matter how we leaders pretzel-twist ourselves to please people, we fall short…

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Leading Ideas
0 The Pandemic’s Real Impact on Clergy and Congregations: An In-Depth Interview with Scott Thumma

How has the pandemic shaped the vitality and resiliency of congregations? Did it really prompt large numbers of pastors to leave ministry? Doug Powe, director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, interviews Scott Thumma, principal investigator for the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations research project. Listen to this interview, watch the interview video on YouTube, or continue reading. Douglas…

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Leading Ideas
0 The Resilient Small Church

We often think of large churches as strong and small churches as weak. But Lovett H. Weems Jr. shares a powerful example of how size does not always bring resilience in the face of adversity. He explains how in some circumstances smaller churches can be less vulnerable and fragile than larger ones. One of the most thoughtful gestures related to…

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Leading Ideas
0 How Perfectionism Gets in the Way of Ministry

Does perfectionism keep you from leading in the most impactful way? Margaret Marcuson describes the nature and origin of perfectionistic tendencies, how they can limit our ministry objectives, and simple strategies for learning to let go. I once took an assessment which suggested I am a perfectionist. I was on a car trip with my family, including two teenagers. I…

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Leading Ideas
0 4 Audiences for Digital Engagement

Jessica L. Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff shares how congregations can begin to reach four groups of people through ministry on digital platforms. As congregations continue to engage in ministry on digital platforms, we have a tremendous opportunity to witness to new groups of people. In Your Church Can Thrive, Harold Percy identifies four main groups of people that…

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Leading Ideas
0 7 Ways to Reengage Volunteers

Whether it’s due to post-pandemic fatigue, lingering health concerns, or broader cultural shifts, volunteerism hasn’t bounced back as readily as other aspects of congregational life. Susan Beaumont outlines seven ways to revitalize volunteer engagement. The church is a volunteer organization. Even the most staff-driven congregations rely on volunteers to make ministry work. The pandemic has impacted volunteerism profoundly in ways…

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Leading Ideas
0 Church Comes Home

The pandemic taught us that church happens in powerful and meaningful ways outside our buildings. Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff interviews Dave Barnhart, author of Church Comes Home, on how small, home-centered worshiping communities can connect with people who may never cross the threshold of your church building. Listen to this interview, watch the interview video on YouTube, or…

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Leading Ideas
0 Creatively Engaging Your Community While Remaining True to Who You Are

Vital churches find new and creative ways to engage their neighbors. But that doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning the best of what your church has always been. Paul Nixon explains how churches can adapt their strengths to engage their neighbors in authentic ways. Prioritizing community needs in your ministry plan does not always mean letting go of the life-giving practices your…

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Leading Ideas
0 Telling Your Faith Story

Sharing faith stories nurtures an awareness of how God is working among us. Harold Percy outlines two simple approaches to sharing faith stories that can encourage people to consider and share how faith has shaped their lives. Churches seeking to develop a witnessing and inviting membership should make a point of encouraging their members to tell their faith stories to…

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Leading Ideas
0 How Has COVID-19 Impacted Religious Participation?

Amy Kubichek of the Lewis Center staff shares Pew Research Center findings on how COVID-19 has impacted religious participation. As of March 2022, 90% of congregations had resumed in-person worship services, but only two-thirds of those who typically worship at least once a month have attended in person. Twenty-one percent are worshiping only online or on TV, and half of…

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Leading Ideas
0 Fruitful Meetings Are About the Right Questions

Blake Bradford describes how framing meeting agendas around critical questions promotes engagement, innovation, and discernment. Excellent questions focus the power of the group’s gathered wisdom, rather than expecting the group to rubber stamp preformulated plans and solutions. I know well the admonition from Lovett Weems: “Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.” While this will take…

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Leading Ideas
0 Normalizing Next

How can church leaders embrace rather than fear the future? Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe interviews Olu Brown on how leaders can “normalize next” and begin living their future now by engaging innovative thinking, creative partnerships, and hybrid strategies to fulfill their mission. Listen to this interview, watch the interview video on YouTube, or continue reading. Douglas Powe: While most…

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Leading Ideas
0 Evangelism: A Witness to Love Not a Dirty Word

Our understanding and practice of evangelism are too often captive to stereotypes and false perceptions. Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe Jr. says we can redeem evangelism by moving beyond evangelism as marketing or manipulation to reclaim a Jesus-inspired vision of evangelism: witnessing to God’s transforming love in authentic ways. Do people in your church avert their eyes or run…

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Leading Ideas
0 5 Signs You’re Doing Online Ministry Right

Successful online ministry requires a new mindset and different metrics. Carey Nieuwhof outlines five signs indicating that your online ministry is connecting with people and helping them grow in faith, rather than just advertising what happens in your building. For most leaders, online church is something they’re still getting used to, trying to figure out, and attempting to master with…

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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.