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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…
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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…
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…
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…
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…
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”…
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…
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…
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 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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
There was a time when churches were reluctant to take an offering at their Christmas Eve services. The reasoning was that many people at those…
It is commonplace to hear references to what it means for churches to function in “the current financial recession.” But there is another recession going…
The first decade of the 21st century was one of highs and lows for U.S. congregations. In the wake of the tragedy of 9/11, many…
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership today released the 2011 version of its annual report Clergy Age Trends in the United Methodist Church. The report,…
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.