5 Steps to Church Vitality and Turnaround
Baltimore Pastor C. Anthony Hunt outlines a five-part process helpful to churches or non-profits looking to renew their vitality. He shares how this process helped…
Browsing: Leadership
Articles
Leadership and the Small Membership Church
Understanding the unique leadership context of smaller congregations is vital to the future of the church, says Lovett H. Weems, Jr. Leaders of small churches…
The Power of Conversation
Church consultant Bill Owen describes how effective leaders understand the importance of conversation in shaping culture. They learn the subtle art of reframing narratives in…
Expecting the Best of People Can Bring Out Their Best
Lovett Weems shares the story of how a church leader brought around a critic of a new homeless ministry by approaching the individual with a…
An Annual Meeting as a Celebration of Faithfulness
How can you turn a routine, boring business meeting into something more celebratory and faith-filled? Tom Tumblin describes how the awarding of an annual servant…
Difficult Conversations
Olu Brown, founding pastor of the fast-growing Impact Church in Atlanta, says that difficult conversations just come with the territory if you are a leader.…
Simple Strategies for Raising Up New Leaders
The need to develop new leaders is vital to the future of individual congregations and the church as a whole. Church consultant and author Kay…
Reluctant Leadership
Congregations often struggle to fill vital ministry roles because new leaders are reluctant to step forward. Lewis Center director Doug Powe names three critical factors…
4 Practices to Help Prevent Clergy Burnout
Matt and Kim Bloom, principal researchers with the Flourishing in Ministry research initiative, explain why clergy are at risk of burnout. Their research has found…
Should you Take an Electronic Sabbath?
Virginia pastor Thomas James, a leading voice on the use of social media in ministry, says our modern world may require a new vision of…
5 Things I Need from a Sermon
What do those in the pews need from a sermon? Larry Buxton says it’s more than platitudes and common sense. An effective sermon needs to…
Sources of Authority for Pastoral Leadership
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., explains that while people may give pastors a leadership position, the true authority needed to lead must be worked out among…
Learning from Failure
Christian Coon, co-founding pastor of Urban Village Church in Chicago and author of Failing Boldly, believes that a key to fruitful ministry is the ability…
The Secret to Great Preaching
The secret of great preaching, according to Charley Reeb, is to engage your listeners. Stop thinking about what would impress your seminary professors, he says,…
7 Strategies to Master Meetings
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says church meetings should be holy ground where the Spirit can act because the people of God are…
Why First Impressions Really Do Matter
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says people’s first impressions are often shaped by assumptions and stereotypes. And the early information we get about a person influences…
4 Key Challenges in Pastoral Transitions
What challenges are most commonly faced when pastors move from one ministry setting to the next? Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says four key challenges are…
Status, Ambition, and the Way of Jesus
Craig Hill, dean of Perkins School of Theology, says that ambition and the desire for status are wholly natural, yet like other natural desires they…
Relationships Are Important to Vitality
Bonnie Marden explores the importance of relationships to congregational vitality, and she suggests key questions for assessing the strength of relationships that undergird a congregation’s…
10 Ways to Master the Art of Asking
Learning how to be effective in asking others to support your ministry is a key to fruitful leadership, says Ann Michel of the Lewis Center…
The Importance of Why
Healthy churches know why they do what they do, says pastor and author Graham Standish. When what we do is based on a clear why,…
9 Things Preachers Should Never Say
Many preachers shoot themselves in the foot when they start off with hackneyed or formulaic phrases that fail to capture the fleeting attention of those…
Synergy: A Leadership Guide for Church Staff and Volunteers
The landscape of ministry is rapidly evolving as more and more lay persons take on significant ministry roles. Part of this trend is a growth in…
Lewis Community Leadership Fellows ‘Lift their Gaze’
When Rev. Nathan Adams was invited to become a Lewis Community Leadership Fellow it was like being asked to come home. “I was a Lewis…
Keychain Leadership
One core commitment that can help a congregation engage younger people is a willingness to entrust teens and emerging adults with the “keys” to real…
The Leader as Communicator
Effective leaders are good communicators, according to Lovett H. Weems, Jr. They understand the importance of all forms of communication and that communication is always…
When Volunteers Aren’t Working Out
Churches often put up with ineffective volunteers because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, says Lory Beth Huffman, a pastor in Western North Carolina.…
Lead Positively
Lovett H. Weems Jr., explains why leaders need to affirm the positive and assume the best of others — even when things aren’t what they ultimately…
Is Your Vision a Mural or a To-Do List?
Tiffany Deluccia says that for too many churches, their de facto vision is nothing more than a list of the next things to be done.…
Two Views of Vision
What kind of vision helps a church finds its way forward? Lovett H. Weems, Jr., says a vision needn’t be grandiose, nor is the process…
