Developing an intergenerational spirit of learning is a skill we develop throughout our lives. This means beginning to see the gifts that every age group—older and younger—has to offer to my life and the life of my church.
All in Church
The Important Role of Small Churches in Ministry Preparation
We frequently view these smaller churches as merely being recipients of help. Instead, they are partners that often serve as incubators for future ministers and lay ministers of all-sized churches.
A Call for Greater Consideration of Small and Rural Churches
When a small church closes, a community loses both its anchor and the energy generated when it responds to local needs.
Mending Generational Divides: The Practice of Listening for Unity
We all have the capacity to make relational choices that can help mend age segregation in our churches. Specifically, I want to offer one practice for followers of Jesus that can help all of us swim upstream towards greater unity in the generational body of Christ: the practice of listening for unity.
Minister and Elder Relationships
I want to share some encouragement and guidance for how I am trying to maintain and develop healthy relationships with my current shepherds. I am by no means the expert on this dynamic, but I will share what little I have learned in over a decade of congregational ministry, serving in various roles for those churches.
When Power Replaces Pastors: Matthew 4:8-10
Somewhere along the way, some churches have confused being close to power with being close to God.
Launching the 2026 Ministers' Salary Survey
For over twenty years, the Siburt Institute Ministers’ Salary Survey has sought to help ministers and churches as they navigate the tricky waters of minister compensation. Before launching the 2026 version of the survey, our associate director, Dr. David Kneip, sat down (virtually) with our research director, Dr. Suzie Macaluso, to talk about the survey specifically and congregational research in general.
Spirit of the Living God
The real reason we typically don’t acknowledge the Spirit’s presence in our congregations and in our lives is that if we really took that “potter and clay” stuff seriously, we would have to let go of our control. Our fear of letting go is often stronger than our desire for the presence of God’s Spirit in our lives.
Becoming a Future-Ready Church
By empowering and encouraging rising generations of leaders, you have the opportunity to faithfully steward the responsibility of those whom God has entrusted to your care.
The Twelve Minor Prophets for Today’s Church (Part 5): Imagining the Future
The Twelve Minor Prophets remind us that today’s hot trends sometimes become tomorrow’s embarrassing discards, while seemingly obscure or insignificant things can assume great importance in the future.
The Twelve Minor Prophets for Today’s Church (Part 4): Narrating the Past
The main lesson of the past is not to overvalue the past. Distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, mercy and cruelty, hope and despair. Without that ability to see clearly the stakes and the stakeholders of the moment, we all perish. With it, we live.
The Twelve Minor Prophets and Today’s Church (Part 3): The Prophets as Models
Zechariah is probably not commenting on the literal immortality of one group of people or extinction of others. He means instead that the prophetic word and therefore the witness of the prophets’ lives continues to exert a powerful influence. They spoke in ways that others must reckon with.
The Twelve Minor Prophets and Today’s Church (Part 2): Worship
Worship centers on God—God’s character as the source of all mercy and love and justice, God’s infinity, God’s majesty and mystery. In contemplating God, we see our own sin, our need for redemption and protection, as well as the possibilities of profound spiritual growth.
The Twelve Minor Prophets and Today’s Church (Part 1)
Why should we listen to these prophets? We could start with the obvious: these texts were part of the Bible of Jesus and the apostles. Who would we be to reject the words our Lord took to heart?
A Tale of Two Buildings: Answering “The How” of Intergenerational Ministry
Ministry rarely offers a choice between one building project or the other. Instead, it requires constant movement between both approaches. Leaders spend time honoring and remodeling inherited structures while also investing energy imagining and innovating new possibilities.
We Need Each Other More Than We Think (Part 3)
It can be ok that that other church or denomination is more successful in our town; we don’t have to find fault with them or let jealousy steal our hearts. It can be ok that, in the past, our groups have had significant conflict; not all inter-group conflict is resolvable, and sometimes we just have to lay down our weapons and move on, seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness.
We Need Each Other More Than We Think (Part 2)
I think what we’ve missed is that some matters of church life and spirituality aren’t a matter of right and wrong. To be certain, some matters are quite clear, but it’s not as common as we think. In some cases, we’re dealing with a continuum that might include a wide range of possible answers. In other cases, there’s ambiguity as to which position might be right.
We Need Each Other More Than We Think (Part 1)
Ever been disfellowshipped? If so, you know some of the pain that can be there. Despite its positive foundation, it is a way that Christian behavior mirrors some of the most damaging and painful tendencies of our modern world.
At a Town Called Adam
Christ’s life becomes our life. Christ’s death becomes our death. And Christ’s resurrection will become our resurrection. Because in Christ, and through Christ, and with Christ, we are drawn out of the river of sin and death that all started at a town called Adam.
The Science Behind the Church Health Assessment: Establishing Red, Yellow, and Green Zones
The CHA is a survey designed to gauge a church’s health and facilitate essential conversations within the congregation. It measures nine factors of church health: vision, ministries, family life stages, spiritual formation, worship, congregational culture, leadership, church relationships, and budget/finance.