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Challenges to Active Church Participation
Virtually all churches are experiencing a changing environment regarding what they can expect from members in relation to time, participation, and energy. Some feel this…
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Virtually all churches are experiencing a changing environment regarding what they can expect from members in relation to time, participation, and energy. Some feel this…
The growth of lay staff in congregations across denominations is a significant trend shaping the way churches engage in ministry and the way people experience…
The pastoral excellence movement has given rise to a growing body of literature analyzing the nature of effective pastoral ministry and offering advice on how…
How effective is the United Methodist Church in reaching the increasingly diverse population of the United States? Recent research by the Lewis Center in cooperation…
Three established authors on the subject of congregational finances have new books to help congregations develop joyful and generous givers. Each author has important contributions…
Most congregations know the financial squeeze of recent years from the economic recession. What is more striking is that the financial downturn for denominations is…
It is intriguing that the first connection people have with a congregation tends to change from time to time. For churches with struggling adult Sunday…
While generational differences receive much attention, it is remarkable how people’s highest values tend to stay relatively constant from one generation to another. However, the…
While many studies report on the work of church planters, few studies examine the experience of “second pastors,” those who follow founding pastors of new…
Kenda Creasy Dean reports in her book Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (Oxford University Press, 2010) that…
A new report by the Leadership Network reports on the current state of churches having more than one site. Below are some of the findings…
Many churches today desperately need to fall in love with their communities again. Increasingly, congregational life and community life spin in different orbits with little…
For several decades now, many have watched in amazement as churches grew far larger than had been the norm previously in the United States. While…
Much has changed since the first edition of Lovett Weems’s seminal work Church Leadership appeared in 1993. But the need for clear, insightful thinking about…
Thousands of congregations are in serious trouble. Children are not being taught the faith. Disciples are not being made. Lives are not being transformed. The…
When pastors tell me about particularly troubling dilemmas they face in their congregations, perhaps the most common advice I offer is, “Find a wise person,”…
At a recent gathering, clergy and laity from several congregations were asked how they keep track of their attendance each Sunday and how they keep…
The American Community Survey provides an ongoing demographic portrait of the country and is the largest survey that the Census Bureau administers other than the…
In Promise and Peril (Alban, 2009), David Brubaker tackles the conundrum churches face: Change usually leads to conflict, but change is required to make progress.…
Building on previous reports from 2000 and 2005, the Cooperative Congregations Studies Partnership based at Hartford Seminary has released a new research report on congregational…
A time of transition for a pastor can be both exciting and terrifying. The possibility of a new start with its challenges and opportunities brings…
Each Sunday The Washington Post has a feature in the opinion section dealing with common myths about a particular topic. Noted demographer William H. Frey…
My Wesley faculty colleague Jessicah Duckworth called my attention to a National Public Radio story about the mistakes that led to the recall crisis Toyota…
Credibility is the foundation upon which all effective leadership builds. It is the “operating capital” from which leaders draw to advance the vision. There are…
With all the strengths of a church, the challenge is always to think of everything from arrival through departure from the perspective of someone who…
I was struck recently by an article that begins with a statement about ants by Stanford biologist Deborah Gordon. “Ants aren’t smart,” she wrote in…
We are used to thinking of the seasons of the Christian year such as Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent. There are also attendance seasons that follow…
Most churches give attention to welcoming newcomers to church once they reach the church doors. Often they will be welcomed by both greeters and ushers.…
Peter Drucker maintains that organizational problems are not the result of groups doing things poorly or even doing the wrong things. Organizations fail, he contends,…
In light of the current economic environment, how are churches reining in their budgets without reducing the quality of ministry? Last month, the Lewis Center…
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.