Dreams Take Leadership…and Time
Will Campbell died earlier this summer. He was known as an eccentric Baptist preacher who fought fiercely for justice but was never comfortable with the…
Browsing: Change
Articles
Separating the Mission from the Medium
A year ago, Encyclopaedia Britannica announced they would cease producing bound volumes. It was a watershed moment when you consider this standard reference was the…
Unclutter Your Church
What needs to die in your church? We begin the journey of restarting your church by allowing for, even encouraging, places of death. We choose…
Surmounting Leadership Defeats
How do we rebound from setbacks to our best-laid attempts to exercise responsible leadership in ministry? I recently returned from a large denominational gathering where…
A Keystone Habit for Our Time
A much-talked-about book currently is The Power of Habit. The author, Charles Duhigg, attempts to answer the questions, “Why do habits exist, and how can…
Continuity and Change: Two Tunes All Leaders Must Know
It is exciting to hear of the energy and vitality with which so many churches are planning for the future. Many of you report changes…
Religion Census Reveals Changing Trends
While about 80 percent of people in the U.S. identify themselves as Christians, just under half of those belong to a local congregation. This is one…
Rocking the Boat without Capsizing
In the late 1980s, rhythm and blues group Midnight Star climbed the charts with a sensational hit called “Don’t Rock the Boat.” Have you experienced…
If Churches Can Change, They Can Grow
An exceptionally revealing report on church growth is now available from the Faith Communities Today research project. Drawing on extensive survey data, noted researcher C.…
Evangelism Today Requires New Wineskins
Churches are struggling with their evangelistic outreach. What worked in the past doesn’t seem to work today. In studying African American churches, I have come…
Essential Acts of Leadership
Donald L. Laurie, in his book The Real Work of Leaders (Perseus, 2000), focuses on what he calls “The Seven Essential Acts of Leadership.” Leaders…
New Wine, New Wineskins: How African American Congregations Can Reach New Generations
God wants to do a new thing in the African American Church. Author Douglas Powe suggests that the African American church, while once the bedrock of…
The Soul of a Small Church
These are anxious times for the lay and clergy leaders of small congregations. The repercussions of a disappointing economy, aging and shrinking membership, and a…
Overcoming Motion Sickness
Have you ever experienced motion sickness? Persons who suffer from motion sickness become severely ill when traveling at certain speeds or distances. In many cases,…
Ask Bigger Questions
In June 2011, Steve Jobs made a twenty-minute presentation to the Cupertino City Council to introduce Apple’s plans for a new corporate headquarters, affectionately known…
Renovate or Die
Bob Farr offers a generous collection of tools for congregational development in his book Renovate or Die: Ten Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission…
Challenges to Active Church Participation
Virtually all churches are experiencing a changing environment regarding what they can expect from members in relation to time, participation, and energy. Some feel this…
The Culture Isn’t Killing the Church. Our Grief Is.
I recently attended a retreat with a number of church friends. We spent part of our time together looking at The problem is that while…
Embracing and Transforming Chaos
The story of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:4a affirms two realities of faith: the reality of God and the reality of chaos. This account of creation…
A Win-Win Worship Debate
A disconnect developed in the historic African Methodist Episcopal Church I serve between older and younger people around worship styles. While the median age in…
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…
Ten Misconceptions about Church Vitality and Growth
The Lewis Center’s reporting on American Congregations 2008 (a report about congregational vitality and growth based on the Faith Communities Today Project at Hartford Seminary) brought…
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.…
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…
Don’t Go It Alone When Changing Worship
When I arrived two years ago at Redondo Beach, I was told that there were three very different worship services: one informal, one contemporary, and…
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…
Discerning Clues for the Future
What do leaders do? Pastors are leaders, and one of the important tasks of leaders is discerning clues for the future to which God is…
