Lessons from Wesley for All Churches
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…
Browsing: Lessons for Leaders
Articles
Leaders Do What Is Needed
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…
Essential Acts of Leadership
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…
Leading in Challenging Times
What if you knew that your congregation were on a collision course with its demise? What would you do? Whom would you tell? How would…
Picking People — Lessons from Peter Drucker
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…
Relationships Are Everything
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…
Ask Bigger Questions
In June 2011, Steve Jobs made a twenty-minute presentation to the Cupertino City Council to introduce Apple’s plans for a new corporate headquarters, affectionately known…
Congregational Focus
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…
Taking Note of Leadership Lessons
There is truth in the adage “Experience is the best teacher.” But how can we best capture the lessons experience teaches? A few years ago,…
Being a Stewardship Leader Requires Clarity
What do you think about financial stewardship? While there are a host of resources for churches on developing giving, it’s important to clarify your own…
The Culture Isn’t Killing the Church. Our Grief Is.
I recently attended a retreat with a number of church friends. We spent part of our time together looking at The problem is that while…
The Sunday Everything Went Wrong
Building credibility took time in my current congregation. I followed a well-respected pastor, and I had fewer years of experience than my predecessors. It is…
Embracing and Transforming Chaos
The story of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:4a affirms two realities of faith: the reality of God and the reality of chaos. This account of creation…
Church Leadership: Vision, Team, Culture, Integrity Revised Edition
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…
If You Count the Money, Count the People
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…
Christ-like Leadership for a Post-Modern World
Many of us carry around a model of leadership that grows out of our childhood and is modeled on our parents. Parents have all the…
Leaders Need Holy Friendships
Many think of a leader as the lone figure who walks in front of the crowd. A far more healthy view would ask how a…
Can We Learn from Toyota?
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 Essential for Leadership
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…
The Wisdom of Ants
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…
Facing Our Losses, Finding Our Future
Church leadership literature often seems lacking in psychological depth. It feels Machiavellian in its world view and behaviorist in its focus, particularly if your seminary…
Leading with Energy, Intelligence, Imagination, and Love
Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love? This question is asked in the service of ordination and installation of…
Tell Me About a Time
As I sat tapping on my computer keyboard in a Midwestern Starbucks, an unexpected event unfolded nearby. A manager sporting a green apron sat down…
Becoming a Tribe of Remembering Encouragers
Just as the congregation of Israel was composed of twelve tribes, today’s churches have different voices that are heard in their communities of faith. Transformational…
Reintroducing the Language of Sacrifice
I have never been an enthusiastic fan of the word “sacrifice” because so few church members in this culture understand or appreciate the term or…
New Tool to Help Clergy Get Feedback
The Lewis Center has worked with hundreds of clergy, and we know that clergy want to improve. But often they do not feel they have…
Know Your Purpose
When Rabbi Noah, Rabbi Mordecai’s son, assumed the succession after his father’s death, his disciples noticed that there were a number of ways in which…
Authenticity in Leadership
When I walk into a church, I can tell almost immediately if the leader is authentic, transparent, and warm. If so, the entire congregation exudes…
Congregational Integrity
We rightfully expect personal integrity in our leaders. Should we not also ask whether our congregation has integrity? The behavior of organizations is as important…
A Spiritual Recovery
Today, we are faced with a terrifying financial crisis in both domestic and global financial markets. The economy is in dire straits according to leading…