If You Count the Money, Count the People
At a recent gathering, clergy and laity from several congregations were asked how they keep track of their attendance each Sunday and how they keep…
Browsing: Lessons for Leaders
Articles
Christ-like Leadership for a Post-Modern World
Many of us carry around a model of leadership that grows out of our childhood and is modeled on our parents. Parents have all the…
Leaders Need Holy Friendships
Many think of a leader as the lone figure who walks in front of the crowd. A far more healthy view would ask how a…
Credibility Essential for Leadership
Credibility is the foundation upon which all effective leadership builds. It is the “operating capital” from which leaders draw to advance the vision. There are…
The Wisdom of Ants
I was struck recently by an article that begins with a statement about ants by Stanford biologist Deborah Gordon. “Ants aren’t smart,” she wrote in…
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…
Leading with Energy, Intelligence, Imagination, and Love
Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love? This question is asked in the service of ordination and installation of…
Tell Me About a Time
As I sat tapping on my computer keyboard in a Midwestern Starbucks, an unexpected event unfolded nearby. A manager sporting a green apron sat down…
Becoming a Tribe of Remembering Encouragers
Just as the congregation of Israel was composed of twelve tribes, today’s churches have different voices that are heard in their communities of faith. Transformational…
Reintroducing the Language of Sacrifice
I have never been an enthusiastic fan of the word “sacrifice” because so few church members in this culture understand or appreciate the term or…
New Tool to Help Clergy Get Feedback
The Lewis Center has worked with hundreds of clergy, and we know that clergy want to improve. But often they do not feel they have…
Authenticity in Leadership
When I walk into a church, I can tell almost immediately if the leader is authentic, transparent, and warm. If so, the entire congregation exudes…
Congregational Integrity
We rightfully expect personal integrity in our leaders. Should we not also ask whether our congregation has integrity? The behavior of organizations is as important…
Outliers: The Story of Success
Have you ever wondered why some people are extraordinarily successful? How do some people overcome insurmountable odds and reach an elite level in their fields?…
Jesus as Transformational Leader
A leader’s continual presence among followers is integral to transformational leadership. It creates teachable moments, fosters relationship, and allows for targeted and personalized interactions. Transformational…
Diversity Leadership in the Church
As church leaders attempt to address the challenges presented by the expanding diversity of local congregations and American culture at large, a new energizing vision…
Speaking the Truth in Love to a Longtime Member
During my third year as pastor of the Austin Church in north-central Pennsylvania, I faced a leadership crisis that threatened the effectiveness of my ministry…
Jesus Asked the Right Questions
Marc Brown explores how Jesus defines the reality of God’s kingdom and his own identity by asking the right questions. In the ninth chapter of…
Leadership Lessons from a Dairy Queen
Adam Hamilton says ensuring a quality experience and pursuing excellence demonstrates that we care about people and desire a relationship with them. One evening, my…
Becoming a Spiritual Leader
Bishop John Schol writes about the spiritual qualities of leadership: deep faith, discipleship, and the heart and mind of Christ, and the fruits of leadership.…
Leaders Stay Connected
Margaret Marcuson discusses the tension between individuality and togetherness for church leaders using the metaphor of a string quartet. Leaders straddle the tension between togetherness…
“Who is the Greatest?” – The Perennially Wrong Leadership Question
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., writes that authority is not about status; it is about what God’s will is for each of us and how faithful…
Knowing the Pathways of Congregational Life
Margaret Marcuson advises pastors to learn the history and familiar ways of a church before introducing change because the patterns of the past will have…
A Leading Ideas Interview with Adam Hamilton
Lewis Center Director Lovett Weems interviews Adam Hamilton to glean insights for other churches in the Church of the Resurrection’s success. The Rev. Adam Hamilton…
What I Learned from a Group of Unruly Youth
Will Rowan, a youth minister in Alberta, Canada, learns from an unexpected outcome in a prayer workshop for high school students. During the spring of 2003,…
Basketball Coaching and Leadership
Douglass Lewis finds five insights on leadership in Phil Jackson’s book about coaching the L.A. Lakers. Last Christmas I received a copy of Phil Jackson’s…
Leadership Lessons from Peter F. Drucker (1919-2005)
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., writes about the influence of Peter Drucker. Weems has found that many of Drucker’s ideas apply to pastoral ministry. Peter Drucker,…
I Hope They Will Know I Believed in Them
Lovett Weems notes the prevalence of a “we-they” attitude of clergy toward their members while lifting up examples of leaders who affirm laity. One study…
Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge
Lovett Weems reviews Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge, the leadership book that Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner wrote in collaboration with religious leaders. For more than…
Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit
The purpose of this book is simple — to reclaim a vision for church leadership from the great spiritual awakening known as the Wesleyan movement.…