9 Strategies for Meeting People and Learning Their Needs
Elizabeth Mae Magill sought to create a food ministry that wasn’t a charity but a demonstration of Christ’s radical welcome. She did months of street…
Browsing: Taking Church to the Community
Articles
Helping People Connect with God through Nature
The natural world is our first way of knowing God, says Beth Norcross, an expert in spirituality and nature. Finding God in nature can reconnect…
Episode 73: “Discovering God in Nature” featuring Beth Norcross
Why do we feel comforted, healed, and enlivened in nature? Beth Norcross explains it is because God is so present there. In this episode we discuss how nature is our first way of knowing God and how individuals and churches can connect with this deep wellspring of spiritual meaning.
Becoming a Church Without Walls
Andrew Ponder Williams says that these trying times provide an opportunity to advance a new way of being church. He offers ideas on how digital…
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.
Worship Under the Bridge
Bishop Robert Schnase tells the story of a Texas congregation sharing worship with its homeless neighbors in relational and empowering ways. This powerful example of…
The Bright Promise of Alternative Faith Communities
A new type of congregation is emerging that combines religious practice with a distinctive element of local culture or community identity, such as artistic expression,…
Episode 14: “Divergent Church” featuring Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris
Does your church have the “church plus” factor? Listen as Lewis Center Director Doug Powe speaks with Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris about their book Divergent Church. They examine innovative, alternative faith communities that combine religious practice with a “church plus” factor — a dedicated focus on some unique aspect of their church’s cultural DNA like gardening, table fellowship, artistic expression, and more.
9 Top Trends Impacting Church Leadership
Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe and Associate Director Ann A. Michel outline some of the major trends evident in their research and interactions with…
Moving Beyond Church in A Box
Pastor Carey Nieuwhof says congregations need to break free of the mentality that people need to come to church at a set time and place…
