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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 Top “Leading Ideas” Articles of 2023

Report on Disaffiliating United Methodist Churches through 2022: Comparing Similarities and Differences What are the characteristics of churches disaffiliating from the United Methodist Church? Lovett H. Weems Jr. reports that there are more similarities than differences between the cohort of disaffiliating churches and the total pool of all United Methodist churches. But disaffiliating churches are overwhelmingly in the South with…

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Leading Ideas
0 6 Ways to Deepen Your Congregation’s Connection to the Community this Christmas

How can your congregation deepen its connection to the community this holiday season? Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff offers six ways to engage people of all ages, including the groups meeting at your church, in the preparation for and celebration of Christmas. From decorating the sanctuary to decorating cookies and singing beloved carols, there are lots of ways…

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Leading Ideas
0 Sharing the True Spirit of Christmas in the Places Where Life Happens

Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff suggests that in an age of rampant religious disaffiliation our evangelistic task in the Advent and Christmas seasons may go beyond gathering in less-frequent church attenders, friends, family, and neighbors. She sees a need to help a generation of dechurched young people reclaim the sacred aspects of Christmas and offers ideas for rebuilding…

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Leading Ideas
0 Gratitude as Leadership

Andy Stanton-Henry explains how the practice of gratitude can change the way we view our community and our world. For leaders, gratitude isn’t merely an essential personal spiritual practice. It is a way to promote the sustainability and resilience of their communities by shifting attention toward what is present and possible rather than what is absent and improbable. One of…

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Leading Ideas
0 10 Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah

Examining the biblical account of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Lovett H. Weems Jr. sees a compelling example of how a leader should function. Nehemiah defined the reality of the situation, named a vision, and then engaged the people to accomplish it. To celebrate the Lewis Center’s anniversary, we are highlighting Leading Articles — some of our most popular…

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Leading Ideas
0 Discipleship and Mission in the Micro Church Movement in Australia: An In-depth Interview with Bree Mills

What are micro churches and how do they disciple missional leaders? Bree Mills, director of Micro Churches Australia shares about the characteristics of micro churches, how they are formed, and how micro church leaders are developed.  Listen to this interview, watch the interview video on YouTube, or continue reading. Doug Powe: Bree, I’m so glad you’re joining us today and happy…

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Leading Ideas
0 God is Already in Your Neighborhood

Incredible things happen when congregations commit to being present in and praying for the spaces around them. The authors of a new book, Leading Faithful Innovation, share how a neighborhood prayer walk led one church to life-giving relationships and new ways of demonstrating God’s love.   Incredible things happen when congregations commit to being present in and praying for the spaces…

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Leading Ideas
0 7 Questions to Determine if Your Advent Traditions are Still Meaningful

Meghan Hatcher says planning for Advent is the perfect time to assess whether a ministry tradition is still serving its intended purpose. She suggests seven questions to help determine if a long-standing ministry is still offering people a transformative encounter with the Gospel, or if it’s time for a change. At the United Methodist church where I grew up, the…

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Leading Ideas
0 3 Ways to Cultivate Resilient Leadership

Leadership is challenging, especially in these days, so effective leaders need to be resilient. C. Kavin Rowe asserts that resilience is essential in Christian communities as they are founded on hope. He outlines three ways Christian communities can cultivate hope and nurture resilience in their leaders.   There are at least three central ways that we can cultivate resilience. These ways…

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Leading Ideas
0 What’s Wrong with Thinking of Church as Family?

Lee Ann M. Pomrenke says the beloved metaphor of church as family can stand in the way of a congregation being truly open and inclusive. The church is a movement defined by shared values, commitments, and actions, not a household family linked by a shared heritage or appearances. To celebrate the Lewis Center’s anniversary, we are highlighting Leading Articles —…

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Leading Ideas
0 How Can the Church Respond to the Rise of the Nones?

What is the church to do in the face of increasing rates of religious disaffiliation and the rise of the Nones? Researcher and pastor Ryan Burge says it’s important that the church not lose hope. We must continue to step out in faith and sow the seeds of love, grace, and hope. How do people of faith deal with the…

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Leading Ideas
0 Understanding the Cultural Realities of Children and Youth Today

Janet Craswell and Angela Pupino of National United Methodist Church say ministries with children and youth were severely impacted by the pandemic and are still rebuilding in most churches. They say a truly intergenerational church must embrace the voices and concerns of younger people and acknowledge the unique cultural realities that shape the lives.   There are very few intergenerational spaces…

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Leading Ideas
0 Leading with Love — An In-Depth Interview with Elaine Robinson

Is your leadership so preoccupied with strategies and actions that you’ve lost sight of the ultimate why? In this interview, Elaine Robinson shares why love must be the foundation of all Christian leadership. Listen to this interview, watch the interview video on YouTube, or continue reading. Ann Michel: Your book, Leading with Love: Spiritual Disciplines for Practical Leadership, is grounded…

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Leading Ideas
0 5 Key Principles for Fostering Generosity in Children

Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says the church needs to renew efforts to foster generosity in our children. She shares five principles that can help instill the joy of giving in the next generation of givers. How can we help our children become responsible, generous, unselfish people? This question is critical to the church as it looks to…

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Leading Ideas
0 A Simple Step-by-Step Process for Creating a Narrative Budget

Church finance expert Bonnie Ives Marden says presenting your budget in narrative form provides a powerful tool for stewardship, evangelism, and marketing. She outlines a step-by-step process for converting a standard line item budget to an inspiring document that highlights your mission. To celebrate the Lewis Center’s anniversary, we are highlighting Leading Articles — some of our most popular posts…

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Leading Ideas
0 Innovating Faithfully through Action Learning Experiments

The authors of a new book, Leading Faithful Innovation, explain how engaging in simple, repeatable, and affordable learning experiments can create an environment where people feel safe trying new things. They provide seven simple steps to help your church employ simple practices to get outside your comfort zone and connect with neighbors in new ways.   Most people do not like…

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Leading Ideas
0 Expanding the Ministry of Laity in Worship

Andy Lunt and Ted Brown say a commitment to lay empowerment must include allowing gifted laity central roles in worship, including preaching and offering prayers. Congregations that regard worship as the exclusive domain of clergy silence the powerful witness of laity that could do so much to transform the church and the world.  Worship is often neglected as an opportunity…

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Leading Ideas
0 Funding Forward: Developing New Revenue Sources for Your Congregation — An In-Depth Interview with Grace Pomroy

Grace Pomroy from Luther Seminary shares research findings on how congregations are developing new and creative funding sources. In this in-depth interview with Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff, she explains how congregations can lessen their dependence on Sunday morning offerings in ways that can bolster the bottom line while also building connections with neighbors and advancing the church’s…

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Leading Ideas
0 Number of Young Elders in the United Methodist Church Reaches a Record Low Number in 2023

Lovett H. Weems Jr. highlights the decline in numbers of young clergy in the Lewis Center’s annual Clergy Age Trends Report. A dramatic decline in young elders, deacons, and licensed local pastors continues in the United Methodist Church.  Download the complete 2023 Clergy Age Trends Report. A Korean language translation of this article is available through United Methodist Communications. For…

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Leading Ideas
0 There Is No Such Thing as Church Revitalization

William Chaney says revitalization is the wrong goal for churches in decline, since it implies a return to the past. Churches need to instead rewrite their DNA by rediscovering their mission, reengaging their neighborhood, and refocusing their resources. To celebrate the Lewis Center’s anniversary, we are highlighting Leading Articles — some of our most popular posts of the past 20…

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Leading Ideas
0 The Stone Soup Recipe for Vital Small Church Worship

Teresa Stewart says that small congregations have a powerful worship planning option that expands participation, emphasizes lay leadership, ends the burnout of meetings, invites local gifts, and heightens anticipation. It’s called Stone Soup worship planning.  Maybe you’ve heard it said that for lavish worship, congregations must have a “Worship Design Team” — experts gathered to design, script, rehearse, and coordinate…

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Leading Ideas
0 6 Tools for Holy Work With Children

Tanya Campen offers six tools to help children process their experiences and discoveries about God. Through story, liturgy and ritual, relational awareness, memory markers, wonder, and work, children experience and respond to God’s presence and love. Recognizing that children learn about God in varying contexts and traditions, and acknowledging all children learn and process at different paces and in different…

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Leading Ideas
0 Building Inclusive Communities: An In-Depth Interview with Brandan Robertson

How can church leaders build an inclusive community of faith? Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff interviews Brandan Robertson, the “TikTok Pastor,” about social media ministry, intersectional inclusivity, and the challenges of building inclusive community.  Listen to this interview, watch the interview video on YouTube, or continue reading. Jessica Anschutz: Before we talk about your book, Brandan, share how you…

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Leading Ideas
0 4 Key Characteristics of Missional Congregations

Congregations that want to move forward and live more missionally need to understand and embody four key characteristics, says F. Douglas Powe, director of the Lewis Center and the James C. Logan Chair in Evangelism (an E. Stanley Jones Professorship) at Wesley Theological Seminary. Missional congregations must be connected to their context, bound as a community by a common story,…

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Leading Ideas
0 The 5 P’s of Sustainability for Small Churches

Rebekah Simon-Peter says small churches cannot succeed by emulating the megachurch model of programming for every stage of life. She believes that five P’s — people, prayer, provision, partnership, and presence — are key to the sustainability of smaller churches. To celebrate the Lewis Center’s anniversary, we are highlighting Leading Articles — some of our most popular posts of the…

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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.