Congregational Focus
Dan Aleshire, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools in the U. S. and Canada, went back to his home town in Ohio to…
Browsing: Visioning & Planning
Articles
The Power of Praise in Awakening Missional Identity
I serve a congregation that averages 60-70 in worship and have been there five years. As preparation for a visioning process, I began meeting with small…
Casting a Vision
Not long ago, while driving along the coast observing nature, I became aware of countless people fishing. I wondered what their visions or expectations were…
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…
A God Corrected Vision
“Where there is no vision, the people will perish,” Proverbs reminds us. Vision is one of the five human senses, but is also one of…
Your Church’s Creation Story
In The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, University of Southern California president Steven Sample makes the case that all leaders should discern the creation story for their…
Spiritual Leaders and Vision
Bishop Schol writes that spiritual leaders help a congregation discern and attain a vision of their future. Spiritual leaders are compelled by vision. Out of…
A Church That Feeds Body and Soul
Michele McGrath describes the process of leading a congregation in defining a vision that captured the church’s true passion and identity around feeding others. After…
Developing a Strategy for Your Congregation
In his book, Leading a Local Church in the Age of the Spirit, Bishop Jonathan Gledhill writes about the primacy of vision and strategy which, once…
The Church of the Good Air
Rhonda VanDyke Colby writes about the congregation at Bon Air United Methodist Church making an imaginative turn from the church’s history to its mission in articulating…
Prayer and Fasting Leads to a New Mission and a “Mission Prayer”
While pastor of a church started in a rapidly growing area, Peter Moon describes how prayer and fasting led his church to a renewed sense of mission,…
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…