Prayer is the Spiritual Electricity of Congregational Revitalization
Sue Nilson Kibbey says a robust prayer life can be a powerful catalyst for congregational renewal. It can shift a church’s gaze “up and out,”…
Browsing: Spirituality and Leadership
Articles
Believe in Miracles and Act Accordingly
Research on rapidly growing churches helped Matt Miofsky and Jason Byassee understand that miracles are happening in all our churches and communities all the time.…
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…
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…
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…
Leadership Lived: Clementa Pinckney and Open Doors
As soon as I saw the television images of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston on the early morning news, my heart…
What is Your Faith Development Process?
How does someone in your church go from being new to being an authentic follower of Jesus Christ? Many churches provide really fuzzy answers to…
Starbucks, Communion, and Race Conversations
Many of us were skeptical and even downright hostile when Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, initiated the idea of “Race Together” to promote conversations…
Encouraging Personal Devotion during Advent
December is a time when people are looking for experiences to share with friends and families. Church leaders can plan in advance to offer events…
Spiritual Hardening of the Arteries
“Where your treasure is so will your heart be also,” Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:21. We live in a country and culture where heart…
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…
The Ministry of the Missional Church: Community Led by the Spirit
The Ministry of the Missional Church (Baker Books, 2007) by Craig Van Gelder is not leadership in search of theological rationale. It is a theology of…
Review of What’s Theology Got to Do With It?: Convictions, Vitality, and the Church
Many of us intuit that there is a critical deficit of theology in contemporary congregations. Like Anthony Robinson, we have seen the “Pecos River syndrome,”…
Leadership from Inside Out
Ever since I read Wesley Granberg-Michaelson’s Leadership from Inside Out, I have urged every minister I could button-hole to read it as well. My attraction…
Becoming a Spiritual Leader
Bishop John Schol writes about the spiritual qualities of leadership: deep faith, discipleship, and the heart and mind of Christ, and the fruits of leadership.…
Spiritual Leaders and Vision
Bishop Schol writes that spiritual leaders help a congregation discern and attain a vision of their future. Spiritual leaders are compelled by vision. Out of…
“Who is the Greatest?” – The Perennially Wrong Leadership Question
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., writes that authority is not about status; it is about what God’s will is for each of us and how faithful…
Prayer and Fasting Leads to a New Mission and a “Mission Prayer”
While pastor of a church started in a rapidly growing area, Peter Moon describes how prayer and fasting led his church to a renewed sense of mission,…
Ducking Spears, Dancing Madly: A Biblical Model of Church Leadership
Lovett Weems reviews Ducking Spears, Dancing Madly: A Biblical Model of Church Leadership by Lewis A. Parks and Bruce C. Birch. The authors look at Saul,…
Which Comes First — Belief or Belonging?
Lovett Weems considers Robin Gill’s supposition that people tend to belong to religious communities before coming to belief rather than the other way around. Robin…