How to Keep Your Leadership Pipeline Full
How can you make sure your church will have the new leaders it needs? Ken Willard and Kelly Brown consider how succession planning, a process…
Browsing: Leadership
Articles
Episode 63: “What Promotes Clergy Wellbeing and Why it Matters” featuring Matt Bloom
How can clergy thrive in ministry? In this episode we speak with Dr. Matt Bloom, Research Professor at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and Principal Investigator for the Wellbeing at Work program, about how clergy can thrive and better cope with the many challenges to their wellbeing.
5 Essential Practices of a Hero-Making Leader
Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird say that effective leaders focus less on being the hero themselves and more on making other people heroes in God’s…
Good Administration is Good Leadership
Bishop Will Willimon says competent, efficient, hands-on administration is just as important as the “big picture” leadership skills of inspiring a vision and nurturing theological…
8 Steps for Moving from Protest Moment to Social Action Movement
Anthony Hunt writes that recent social movements raise the question of how protest moments can lead to substantial, sustainable social change. He outlines eight steps…
Episode 60: “How to Be a Hero Maker” featuring Dave Ferguson
How can you activate the gifts of others and multiply the impact of your ministry? In this episode we speak with Dave Ferguson about becoming a “hero maker” by focusing on making those around you great leaders.
The Search for New Leaders Begins with Prayer
Ken Willard and Kelly Brown say that prayer and study are necessary first steps in creating a leadership pathway for your church. They present six…
Good Communication Requires More Than Just Sharing Information
Trying to improve communication by sharing more and more information is likely to backfire, according to Ryan Hartwig and Warren Bird. Effective communication is aimed…
Leading between Faith and Patriotism
Lovett H. Weems Jr. writes that preaching at the time of a national holiday offers opportunities and dangers. He says it is important to approach…
Rethinking Esther’s Leadership
Esther’s story turns in many ways on a very traditional understanding of female roles and influence. But Esther’s capacity for innovative and creative leadership offers…
Committing to a Hybrid Model of Ministry
Tom Berlin says churches will likely need a hybrid ministry model with a mix of in-person and online ministry for some time. He shares thoughts…
Leading in an Age of Political Polarization
David Brubaker says leaders need different skills in this age when deep political divisions affect our families, congregations, and communities. It requires clarity, compassion, courage,…
Why the Church’s Mission Really Matters in this Time of Crisis
Anthony Hunt says crisis reveals the strength of the church’s ministries of connection and message of hope. Even with changing patterns of interaction, we need…
Why Reopening a Church is Different
Alex Shanks says the question of whether to reopen is different for a church than for other institutions. Rather than just reacting to what others…
SPEAKPIPE — Pentecost Reminds Us That God Speaks in the Ways That We Each Hear Best
Pentecost reveals how the Spirit breaks down barriers of language and belonging, calling faith leaders to embody hospitality, inclusion, and presence in ways that make…
SPEAKPIPE – Showing Up with Questions: Listening in a New Setting
Strong leadership in a new ministry setting begins not with quick answers, but with intentional listening. Luke Edwards shares the key questions he plans to…
Communicating in a Crisis
Church consultant Mike Bonem says leaders need to step up their communication in this season of anxiety and uncertainty. It is important to be transparent,…
The Right Start: Beginning Ministry in a New Setting — COVID-19 Supplement
The Right Start in the Era of COVID-19 The arrival of a new pastor is a critical juncture in the life of a church. A…
How Should Leaders Respond to an External Shock?
Leaders need to focus on core mission and values in the face of a powerful external shock says Meredith McNabb of the Lake Institute on…
Episode 54: “The Adept Church” featuring F. Douglas Powe Jr.
Is your church caught between a rock and a hard place? In this episode we speak with F. Douglas Powe Jr. about his new book, The Adept Church, and what churches can do to move toward a more interactive way of connecting with others. Dr. Powe is director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership and holds the James C. Logan Chair in Evangelism (an E. Stanley Jones Professorship) at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.
Is Your Congregation a Swamp, a Reservoir, or a Canal?
Is your congregation cut off and inwardly focused? Primarily a storehouse of resources? Or a connector that brings things together? The images of swamp, reservoir,…
Episode 53: “Developing Effective Leaders” featuring Bishop Yehiel Curry
How can we more effectively develop leaders? In this episode, Bishop Yehiel Curry of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, offers his insights on leadership development.
The Adept Church: Navigating Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Learn how to determine your church’s best way forward! How can you help your congregation take an honest look at challenges in their church? And…
Choosing Joy in the Face of Disruption and Loss
We can choose to dwell on the loss and change COVID-19 has brought to our lives, or we can shift our focus and choose joy.…
Preaching to an Empty Room
How can preachers maintain a sense of presence and engage their audience when COVID-19 has their congregants viewing worship via livestream? Read these tips on…
6 Leadership Practices that Enhance Involvement and Collaboration
Are you leading in a way that inspires, invites, and engages others? Katie Carson Phillips outlines six basic leadership practices that support greater collaboration and…
3 Key Lessons from Leadership Pioneer Mary Parker Follett
Lovett H. Weems Jr. explains how Mary Parker Follett, a pioneering leadership thinker who valued human interaction and interconnectivity, influenced his thinking on key leadership…
4 Ways to Multiply Disciples the Way Jesus Did
Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird explain that for our ministries to have a truly exponential impact, we need to be mentoring, developing, and multiplying disciples.…
The 4 “C’s” of Impactful Leadership
Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe says that courage, conviction, collaboration, and creativity are four characteristics of effective leadership evident in the powerful legacy of…
3 Ways to Lead More Collaboratively
Justin Irving and Mark Strauss write that collaboration is an important factor contributing to effective leadership. Leading with humility, celebrating the contributions of others, and…