According to Leadership Network, 2% of all U.S. Protestant churches have merged in the last two years and 8% more are planning on it within the next two years. That represents some 30,000 churches. Is this a trend or a blurp?
In 2003 Dave Travis and I wrote briefly about mergers in our book Beyond […]
By Bossidy and Charan
If you’re able to translate business examples into church examples this book offers a wealth of information about how to lead a staff so that dreams actually become reality. I’m going to try to make that translation for you.
Sharing a big hairy audacious goal is the easy part of leadership; making […]
I imagine that it’s no surprise that many (dare I say most) seminary trained pastors – and even business trained pastors – lean toward the verbose and the grandiloquent. In some writings, I suppose, that’s acceptable. However, when it comes to defining a church’s mission, vision, and values, our over-learnedness often gets in the way.
In fact, I […]
We often get questions about what kind of decisions an effective policy/accountability board is responsible for.
Below are a couple of brief scenarios that demonstrate decision-making processes a board should and should not engage in. (These are hypothetical examples that may or may not reflect issues facing your congregation.)
The petty cash policy limits the […]
Now I realize I didn’t publish my thoughts on “Conversations You Can’t Ignore” in the right order. Here is Part IV.
All three of the movements we’ve examined the past three days (Emergents, Incarnationals, and Organics) are clearly reactions against the traditional Attractional church that waits for the public to come to it instead of […]
Ever since my book, Dancing With Dinosaurs (1993), where I wrote about the “Crack in history” I’ve been warning people that we are living in a time of radical change. But I was wrong. We’re really living in a time of unthinkable change. Who would have ever imagined 9/11 could happen; or who in […]
Workplace Ministry
Ministry in Daily Life: A Practical Guide for Congregations, William E Diehl
By: Linnea Nilsen Capshaw
“The church says it gathers people for worship, study, and fellowship presumably so that they can be effective in their worldly ministry. The church asserts that it is not an end in itself but a means to an end. […]
The vast majority of dying churches I know get their priorities mixed up. Every church has a primary priority and secondary priorities. The primary priority of any church should be effectively growing the Kingdom, and it can’t be doing that if it totally dies. Secondary priorities can be any kind of mission they choose. […]
Recently, while I was teaching a class on pastoral leadership, a student pushed back hard when I shared that membership care, hospital visitation, and most church administration are not primarily the functions of clergy – that the church members should be responsible for those kinds of ministries.
“I got into ministry to do ministry,” […]
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery