How to Be Yourself in the Spotlight of Public Ministry
…Mindfulness in this outward-focused sense necessitates a deep comfort within us about ourselves — a stability that is founded on self-knowledge, a lack of worry about our own selves, and…
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…Mindfulness in this outward-focused sense necessitates a deep comfort within us about ourselves — a stability that is founded on self-knowledge, a lack of worry about our own selves, and…
Download the 2019 Clergy Age Trends Report. Highlights of the 2019 Report Dramatic Decline in the Number of Young Elders Not only did the number of elders under 35 decline…
…the denomination since many deacons serving in settings other than congregations have pension plans through those agencies rather than Wespath, from which our numbers come. Download the 2024 Clergy Age…
Download the 2023 Clergy Age Trends Report. Highlights of the 2023 Report Young Elders Reach New Record Low Number The recent decline in the number of young elders (under…
…number of young deacons in 2022 to 100 compared to 95 in 2021. Young deacons comprise 11 percent of all active deacons in 2022, higher than the percentage for young…
…(They comprised 30% as recently as 2000.) Middle age elders went from 38% of all elders to 40%. (They comprised 65% in 2000.) The proportional gain for the middle age…
Download the 2020 Clergy Age Trends Report. Highlights of the 2020 Report Decline in the Number of Young Elders Continues Since reaching the record low point for under 35 elders…
…yet returned to in-person worship. According to Barna research, about one in every three churchgoers has not returned to in-person worship services since COVID-19 shutdowns ended. With that in mind,…
…development, and helping clergy put their personal calling into a larger context. It also gives mentoring best practices through the Lewis Center’s research-based “Ten Commitments of Mentoring.” Click here to…
Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard describe ways to get more traction from each week’s sermon by layering its message into other materials that reinforce the teaching — such as weekly…
…says to consider your communication plan, examine your timeline, note potential costs of publicity materials, and create a strategy for inviting people to experience electronic giving for themselves. You might…
…an occasional gift from a member living out of town. Then came our 2012 annual “Footwashing for the Homeless,” which includes food, footwashing, examination by podiatry residents, new socks, and…
…said to him, “Yeah, go ahead. Don’t do it. We’ll make sure the Worship Committee knows.” He replied, “What are you going to do with people who complain?” I said,…
…workday can help, but what’s most needed is a new mindset and practices to ensure that clutter is routinely removed and out of date materials come down immediately. 2. Audit…
…vast majority of people, giving comes last in our financial habits. It has been documented that during the most prosperous periods in our recent history, a strange counterintuitive thing happened…
Lent, the forty-day period before Easter, is set aside as a season of soul-searching and repentance. The forty days of Lent reflect Jesus’s withdrawal into the wilderness for his own…
…on Social Media by Tim Welch Becoming a Digital Savvy Congregation featuring Phil Cooke 7 Building Blocks for Church Social Media Success by Mark MacDonald Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik…
…experience. They come from various websites I have had reason to visit. The “read our latest newsletter” led to an April 2011 issue. The “pastor” had been replaced six months…
…but only if it is presented in a compelling way. For Others. The offering was totally dedicated to those outside the church walls. Upon entering, I received a bulletin with…
…tied inextricably to the larger task of congregational vision and energy. His chapter on ten commandments for pastors captures best practices superbly. Some will find his concept of the “modern…
Trust is probably the most oft-mentioned and common ingredient within great ministry teams. Experts from all fields of team building agree on this essential. All team values have their roots…
…Institute for Religion Research. Their latest research, conducted in 2020, received responses from 15,278 congregations representing at least 80 denominations across four faith traditions. One of their specialized reports based…
…that all leaders might ponder. Carroll said such disappointments or failures are always with him, not just this latest and biggest one. He immediately recalled a similar situation when he…
How do your church members get information? Is everything communicated through the bulletin or announcements at church? Or do you communicate with your congregation through email, blogs, phone trees, snail…
…past and present realities and provides lessons for planning for the future. Those who do not come out of the Latino/a community need an orientation to basic social, cultural, and…
Below are some of the best practices related to pastoral transition suggested by several hundred pastors and denominational leaders. Spend quality time with your successor with an agreed upon agenda….
…to people-watch in your neighborhood grocery store, parks, and shopping areas. Ask your school district for their latest demographic studies. Notice the people who are part of your community, but…
…an explosion of internet campuses in the coming years. Called by many names — internet campus, iCampus, cyber church, digital church, virtual church, church in the cloud — an online…
…mean for your congregation? In this episode we speak with David King, director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, about new research on the economic practices of churches….
…at the same time serve their churches well. When communities become more racially diverse Research tells us some of the things that typically happen when communities become more racially diverse….
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.