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Leading Ideas
Delivered every Wednesday, our free e-newsletter Leading Ideas offers articles by thoughtful, cutting-edge leaders on subjects you care about — navigating change, reaching younger people, financing your ministry, communicating effectively — to help you be the leader God is calling you to be.

The Lewis Center is committed to helping congregations and denominations thrive and grow by providing ideas, research, resources, and training for vital and fruitful leadership. Through Leading Ideas, we share vignettes of leaders and congregations, book reviews, leadership quotes, and helpful “right questions” built around the premise that leaders don’t need answers — they need to know the right questions.

Leading Ideas
0 Can Church Leaders Help Reframe the Gun Debate?

Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says that church leaders can make a difference on issues of extreme political polarization such as guns, if they put themselves in the role of interpreter, reframer, questioner, and fellow seeker. Exemplary leaders develop the art of framing or reframing an issue. They learn that their first response to a contentious issue is not their personal…

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Leading Ideas
0 Lead, Learn, Launch: Getting Started with Digital Giving

Need a roadmap for getting started with electronic giving in your church? Alex Benson of Luther Seminary outlines a three-step process for implementing the methods of giving that most churchgoers prefer and regularly use in other financial transactions. Did you know that 34 percent of churchgoers prefer to give by recurring payment via credit card? That the number of checks…

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Leading Ideas
0 The One-Point Sermon

Charley Reeb, a Florida pastor known as a gifted preacher, says that it’s often easiest for listeners to stay focused when a sermon is organized around one point. But that point must be both clear and compelling. Once, I had just preached what I thought was a pretty good sermon. It was chock full of points, quotes, and anecdotes. As…

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Leading Ideas
0 3 Ways to Extend the Impact of a Sermon

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 devotionals or study guides — and by posting it online. For most pastors and church staff persons, the weekend service of message and worship demands a disproportionate amount of weekly…

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Leading Ideas
0 Moving Beyond Church in A Box

Pastor Carey Nieuwhof says congregations need to break free of the mentality that people need to come to church at a set time and place to be in relationship with Christ. Churches need to innovate and keep experimenting to reach people, for example, through digital outreach, remote locations, and pop-up churches. Too many church leaders are perfectly equipped to reach…

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Leading Ideas
0 7 Ways Your Quarterly Giving Statements Can Make the Right Statement

Stewardship expert Ken Sloane outlines ideas for making sure that your church’s quarterly giving statements express gratitude and let people know the difference their giving makes, rather than coming across like an impersonal bill or dues statement. When you open your mail, would you rather receive a bill or a nice, handwritten thank-you note?  As we approach the time of…

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Leading Ideas
0 Reaching More Diverse People in Suburbs

Lovett H. Weems, Jr. shares recent findings indicating that mixed-race neighborhoods are becoming more common and enduring, even in the suburbs. Data suggest that Americans increasingly are choosing to live near people of other races, rather than move away from them, as was often the trend in the past. Polls among United Methodists, as well as among the U.S. population…

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Leading Ideas
0 When Churches Hire Members

It is increasingly common for churches to hire their own members. Ann Michel of the Lewis Center suggests we need to consider how congregations and the church members in their employ can best navigate what is admittedly a gray area with potential risks and rewards for both employee and employer. I often hear people say, “A church should never hire…

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Leading Ideas
0 What is Your Signature Ministry?

In their book Small Church Check Up, Kay Kotan and Phil Schroeder say stable, smaller churches can remain vital by focusing on a “signature ministry,” providing one key ministry with excellence, rather than trying to be everything to everybody. Often churches try to do too many things, being all things to all people without doing any ministry with excellence. Churches…

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Leading Ideas
0 Boring Announcements? Try Fun Video Announcements

Texas pastor Laura Heikes shares how weekly worship announcements in her church went from being a boring ritual to a source of life and joy when different people from the community were asked to deliver the announcements via video. When you think of announcements, what comes to mind? Glazed expressions? Last minute requests? A list so long it hurts? Now…

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Leading Ideas
0 Billy Graham: Prophet of American Righteousness

Lovett H. Weems Jr. examines the legacy of Billy Graham — his miraculous rise to prominence, his ability to transcend denominational differences, and his engagement with the public leaders of his day in a spirit that fostered unity over polarization. Billy Graham, whom Garry Wills once called “the closest thing to a national pope that we shall ever see,” died…

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Leading Ideas
0 Developing an Intentional Discipleship System

The late Junius B. Dotson says that churches cannot do the hard and intentional work of making disciples unless they are clear about what a disciple is and how disciples are formed. He outlines the key characteristics of a more intentional system for forming disciples. If you say to average church leaders, “Tell me a little about what your church…

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Leading Ideas
0 16 Signs Your Church May Need a Renewed Focus on Disciple Making

Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard say too many churches are driven by structure and programs, not the imperative of making disciples. They outline 16 symptoms related to membership, service, finances, and fruitfulness that may indicate that your church needs to renew its focus on disciple making. A discipleship process is an intentional method created to help individuals continually grow closer…

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Leading Ideas
0 A New Start in Lent

Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe says that congregations, as well as individuals, can make a new start during Lent by giving up some things, like fear or lethargy, or taking up other things, like risk and new rhythms. Typically, we think of Lent and Ash Wednesday as times of individual soul searching. Lent is a time for each of…

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Leading Ideas
0 9 Ways Leaders Can Promote Faithful Stewardship

Leadership is a critical factor in nurturing a culture of generous giving, says Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff. She names the nine key leadership practices that help to promote a climate of faithful stewardship within a congregation. Many factors come into play in nurturing a congregational culture of responsible stewardship. But leadership is undoubtedly one critical factor. Teaching…

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Leading Ideas
0 Engaging Millennials in Small Groups Requires Constant Adaptation

In his book The Kaleidoscope Effect, Scott Chrostek says permanent, static programming doesn’t work with emerging generations. He describes how Resurrection Downtown in Kansas City has succeeded in drawing Millennials into small groups by constantly adapting their approach. The Millennials I meet aren’t necessarily looking for the church to have a place to worship, receive the sacraments, and grow in…

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Leading Ideas
0 Closing a Congregation as an Act of Faithfulness

Minnesota Pastor Lee Ann Pomrenke reflects on the painful reality of having to bring a congregation or a ministry to an end. While there is a tendency to see closure as a failure and assign blame, she considers how closing a congregation can be an act of faithfulness and responsible stewardship that can open the way to new life. The…

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Leading Ideas
0 4 Reasons Visitors Do Not Return

Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe says it’s important not only to attract visitors, but to create a space where they will want to stay. Congregations wondering why their visitors don’t return need to honestly assess how they respond to visitors and what their church has to offer. It is not unusual to hear a parishioner say, “We are a…

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Leading Ideas
0 Accountability Without Control

Lovett H. Weems, Jr., explains that in these times, when church leaders can rely less on structure and hierarchy to undergird their authority, accountability flows from faithfulness to mission, vision, and values, not hierarchical control. Rosabeth Moss Kanter speaks of a new kind of leader. These new leaders must learn to operate “without the might of hierarchy behind them.” The…

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Leading Ideas
0 When a Pastor Serves a Church of a Different Racial or Cultural Background

Unique challenges arise when a church is served by a pastor from a different racial or cultural background or as it struggles to engage a changing community. Jasmine Smothers, the first African American lead pastor of First Atlanta United Methodist Church, shares her perspectives on ministry in cross-cultural settings. Congregations and pastors often struggle in cross-cultural ministry settings for the…

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Leading Ideas
0 How to do Short-Term Missions the Right Way

Dan Wunderlich says that mission trips can be life-changing mission endeavors, but they also raise serious issues and questions. He names a series of considerations for churches that want to do short-term missions well. Short-term mission trips, particularly international trips, can be faith-deepening and even life-changing. They offer experiences we might never have back home, and they are a way…

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Leading Ideas
0 Is Your Building Impeding Your Mission?

Evangelism professor Mark Teasdale writes that, while a church building demands respect, too many congregations let upkeep of their facilities become more important than serving God’s purposes. Churches need to be open to renting, selling, or redesigning buildings to further God’s mission. Church buildings are more than just brick, mortar, wood, nails, and shingles. They are holy ground. Even though…

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Leading Ideas
0 4 Ways to Engage Busy People

Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe suggests strategies that can make it possible for those with significant time constraints to serve as church leaders — not merely to meet the church’s leadership needs but to help the individual know the satisfaction of serving. “I’d like to get involved, but I just don’t have the time.” How often have you heard…

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Leading Ideas
0 7 Steps for Making Disciples Through Relational Mentoring

Kenneth H. Carter and Audrey Warren describe a simple, step-by-step process for making disciples and mentoring friends to be closer to Jesus — a process of faith formation that is increasingly important as more and more nontraditional expressions of church emerge. For the unchurched, or “nones,” the language of becoming a disciple is entering a new world of practices, habits,…

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Leading Ideas
0 Martin Luther King Jr.’s 4 Key Principles of Prophetic Witness

C. Anthony Hunt explains how Martin Luther King, Jr.’s prophetic witness was grounded in four principles — call, conviction, courage, and commitment. Even fifty years after King’s assassination, these principles are still relevant to leaders engaging in prophetic witness and public ministry. This article has been translated into Spanish by United Methodist Communications. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that God…

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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.