Separating the Mission from the Medium
A year ago, Encyclopaedia Britannica announced they would cease producing bound volumes. It was a watershed moment when you consider this standard reference was the…
Author
Lovett H. Weems Jr.
Lovett H. Weems Jr. is senior consultant at the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, distinguished professor of church leadership emeritus at Wesley Theological Seminary, and author of several books on leadership.
Who Takes Your Church Seriously?
No church is right for everyone. It can be helpful to acknowledge that fact to potential members. It is a way to treat such conversations…
That Would Never Happen Here
One of the great blessings of my life is knowing W. Clark Randall. Before his retirement, Clark spent his professional career as a senior executive…
The Missing Person in Worship Planning
Every congregation begins as an outwardly-focused group of believers, intent on reaching out to those with whom they want to share the Gospel message. Without…
Do New People at Your Church Need a GPS?
Have you ever asked for directions? The practice was much more common in pre-GPS days. As a pastor in small towns and rural areas of…
Giving our Best to God?
A phrase made popular by management writer Philip Crosby is “quality is free.” It reminds us that efforts to ensure that work is done right…
Finding Focus in the New Year
Often New Year’s resolutions tend to be grand and unrealistic. Perhaps that is why the failure rate is so high. Sometimes we do the same…
Limitations of an Annual Review
December is often the time when congregations and denominations require annual evaluations of clergy and staff. Evaluation is a good thing. But when the only…
Developing Your Own “Undo Send” Button
Have you ever sent an email and immediately regretted it? Most of us have. Google added a feature to its Gmail system called “Undo Send”…
Doing Church “as Usual” Is Not Working
The Pew Research Center’s recent report on changes in religious affiliation in the United States received major attention among both secular and religious media. Some…
Showing Appreciation for Your Pastor
Some of you may know that October is designated Pastor Appreciation Month in some denominations and congregations. This is not a major national observance, but…
Metrics: A Tool for Learning, Not Judging
The current focus on setting numerical goals for ministry and reporting on the results is not new, though it is now greatly expanded. In the…
The Older Clergy Bubble Grows Larger in 2012
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership today released the 2012 version of its annual report on Clergy Age Trends in the United Methodist Church. The report,…
Feedback without the Pain
A limitation to most feedback systems is that they tend to accentuate the negative. We know that leaders want and need feedback for growth, but…
Why Worship Attendance Matters and Clues for Improving It
This 10-minute video by Lewis Center Director Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of the importance of worship attendance and ways you can improve…
Stewards of God’s Grace
A noted British economist recently submitted to the government a review of the equity markets in England. In writing about the current situation of financial…
Continuity and Change: Two Tunes All Leaders Must Know
It is exciting to hear of the energy and vitality with which so many churches are planning for the future. Many of you report changes…
Religion Census Reveals Changing Trends
While about 80 percent of people in the U.S. identify themselves as Christians, just under half of those belong to a local congregation. This is one…
Lessons from Wesley for All Churches
Martin E. Marty once observed that between the time of Luther and Calvin and our own time, John Wesley symbolized the genius of adaptation to…
The Tussle over Metrics
Church leaders may think that leading in the business world is so much simpler than in the church since there is “one bottom line” and…
Leaders Do What Is Needed
One of the vivid images of the 1960s is a picture of African American students walking boldly out of Cornell University’s student union building. They…
If Churches Can Change, They Can Grow
An exceptionally revealing report on church growth is now available from the Faith Communities Today research project. Drawing on extensive survey data, noted researcher C.…
Essential Acts of Leadership
Donald L. Laurie, in his book The Real Work of Leaders (Perseus, 2000), focuses on what he calls “The Seven Essential Acts of Leadership.” Leaders…
Time to Invite
In the last year, several friends who live in different parts of the country have returned to church after a number of years of inactivity.…
Picking People — Lessons from Peter Drucker
Selecting or helping to select personnel, paid staff, and volunteers is a prime task of leaders. Below are suggestions that come from the legendary management…
Helping Youth Have a Faith of Their Own
The fact that youth participate in church less as they get older and often are not present in church as young adults can lead church…
Focus: The Real Challenges That Face The United Methodist Church
Few would disagree that many challenges face The United Methodist Church. But what are the core issues and concerns, the ones that must be addressed…
Will the Mainline Denominations Get It Right?
“We can either have a hard decade or a bad century.” New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman used these stark words to describe the…
Relationships Are Everything
Just as all Christian leadership originates in our relationship with Christ, our day-by-day leadership depends on relationships with others that mirror the ideals of our…
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…