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…
Browsing: Change
Articles
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.…
Meeting the Spiritual Needs of a Changing Community
Are there times when it feels as if your church resides on a different planet than it once did? The street signs are the same.…
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…
Getting Your Congregation’s Story Right
Congregations, particularly mainline and established congregations, commonly tell either safe or weak stories about themselves. In an earlier era, when identity and purpose were clearer…
Facing Our Losses, Finding Our Future
Church leadership literature often seems lacking in psychological depth. It feels Machiavellian in its world view and behaviorist in its focus, particularly if your seminary…
Review of Myth of the 200 Barrier: How to Lead Through Transitional Growth
Kevin E. Martin is the executive director of Vital Church Ministries, a teaching and consulting outreach of the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew in Dallas,…
Introducing a Congregation to Contemporary Worship
How to start a contemporary service if you don’t know what it is like. This was the dilemma that faced Union United Methodist Church in…
Is Your Church History a Static or Dynamic Force?
Church history is a lot like gravity — it is always with us whether we are aware of it or not. While church history may…
Eat this Bread, Drink this Cup
When communion practices were changed, Pastor Jackie Hoy learned that time, flexibility, and education are key to a congregation accepting change. I have always believed…
Moving in Faith to a New Location
David Abbott describes the way his Maine congregation handled the transition while moving from an old building to a new facility. In 1996, Belfast United…
When Good Practices Are No Longer Good Enough
Lovett H. Weems says the very practices that made an organization strong can keep it from responding to new challenges in the face of “disruptive…
Moving Established Congregations through Change
Tom Berlin of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, shares a six-step process for helping a congregation change. 1. Learn the story of the…
Leading Your Congregation to New Life
Lovett Weems reviews You Only Have to Die: Leading Your Congregation to New Life, written by Jim Harnish about a church in Florida that built a…
Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Change in the Church
Learn how to work for genuine and effective change in your church without trying to throw out everything that has gone before. Pastors and other…
