Ten Hints for Leading Volunteers
Jill Fox lists ten things to keep in mind to develop a ministry team with healthy and happy volunteers, and one that is also attractive…
Browsing: Leadership
Articles
Six Ways to Make Change Stick
Pastor Charles Stone, who has studied how brain chemistry impacts our ability to process change, recommends six specific strategies to help congregational leaders embrace change.…
Congregations as Political Systems
David Brubaker says that while every congregation is a political system, political activity doesn’t need to be manipulative, polarizing or demeaning. He outlines four requirements…
A Simple Planning Process
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., outlines a simple planning process that churches can use to identify issues and concerns and develop realistic plans to address them. Key…
How Leaders Create Culture Every Day
Leaders are culture creators, writes Ryan Stigile. Their words, actions, and decisions reinforce community values. When the culture of an organization conforms to its values,…
Predictable Surprises in the Church
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., encourages congregations to uncover and prepare for their “predictable surprises.” Leadership is about the future, so leaders must take the future…
Becoming the Person God Created You to Be
Laurie Haller says that clergy going into a new church can only lead effectively when they are authentic to who they know they are and…
The Myth of Balance
Karoline Lewis writes that the notion that one can keep all the important aspects of life in perfect balance is an unattainable myth. It can…
Three Keys to Identify and Develop High-Impact Leaders
C. Anthony Hunt writes that the development of high-impact leaders is critical to the ongoing effectiveness, vitality, and growth of congregations. Discerning the gifts, passion,…
3 Surefire Ways to Fail in Developing Leaders
Tony Morgan says that church leadership development efforts often fail because they are programmatic rather than personal,they are limited to specific roles, and they move…
Clergy Personal Finance Resources
Our basic responsibility as Christian stewards is to manage our personal financial resources so that we can care for ourselves and our families and marshal…
How Incoming Pastors Can Navigate the Changeover Zone
In a relay race, the two runners exchanging the baton run in tandem in their changeover zone lane of 20 meters. For most runners, this…
Passing the Baton to Your Pastoral Successor
In a relay race, there is an “incoming” and an “outgoing” runner. At different times, and in different races, runners must play either part. So…
Freeing Laity for Ministry
How many members does your church have? Do you tend to think first of what those members need (hospital visits, sermons, childcare, parking, Bible studies,…
11 Characteristics of Effective Smaller Churches
Some years ago, I traveled across the United States, west to east and north to south, and back north, visiting twenty-one smaller faith communities that…
Launching Sustainable Ministries
What do you do when someone in your church presents an idea for a new program or ministry? New initiatives can be empowering and energizing.…
Becoming a Leader Who Says Yes!
During my tenth year as pastor of a large multi-staff church, the laity offered me a twelve-week study leave for rest, renewal, and learning. I…
Next Sunday is Not a Presidential Primary
Following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a remarkable focus emerged among churches. We know there were instances of…
Next Generation Leaders
At an event I was approached by a well-dressed older woman who said, “We are willing to do whatever it takes to get the next…
Speak More Effectively by Asking Three Questions
Perhaps the most important component to giving an effective speech is asking the right questions. There are three very simple questions your talk, speech, or…
Quiet Leadership by Public Leaders
Dale Bumpers was a very public leader for most of his adult life — as governor of Arkansas for two terms and then United States…
Reclaiming Conversation
One of the most profound and disturbing books I’ve read recently is Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (Penguin…
More Than a Nonanxious Presence
When I came to my first local church appointment in California from the East Coast, about the only thing I had been told about the…
Collective Genius
Much conventional wisdom about leadership has assumed a sole visionary providing primary leadership for a group. The temptation, likewise, is to think that the answer…
Does Everyone in a Church Need to Know Everything?
Every congregation has a set of expectations, mostly unspoken and never completely identified, about making decisions. And sometimes, these expectations are unhelpful. One such unhelpful…
Is Your Church Driven by a Shadow Mission?
Some congregations adopt purpose statements that are widely known and frequently repeated, such as “Connected with God, Growing in Faith, Serving with Love,” or “Honoring…
Trust is Results Driven
There is nothing more corrosive to the life of a congregation than an underlying absence of trust that may manifest itself as congregants not having…
Cultivating a Feedback-Friendly Congregation
Think of a time when good feedback or a helpful suggestion made a big difference for you or for your church. Think about what you…
Bringing about Systemic Change through Social Entrepreneurship
I believe that an understanding of the concepts of social entrepreneurship is critical for church leaders who seek to effect real, sustainable change and address…
Right Questions for Church Leaders
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions. These two sentences introduce “The Right Question,” one of the most popular features in…
