All tagged change
It is true that our movement has always valued Scripture as being “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” We know that “the world” can be an enemy to us, and so we will always need to recognize situations where we need to hold on, be faithful, and separate ourselves from the world. In other words, we can’t assume that relevance solves our problems – we might have to be willing to be “different.”
Life can stagger you like that sometimes. We live in a world of lightning strikes, both literal and relational, intentional and random.
You need Jesus. For the hard times—and there will be hard times. And in the good times. You need your church family. God hears. God answers. God heals.
As churches seek to support the development of a lifelong embedded faith, it will undoubtedly be a journey that requires perseverance and a willingness to challenge practices.
Folk who study congregations speak of congregations having a “life cycle.” If you’re thinking that your church might be one of them, let’s take a deeper look.
If church leadership is centralized within a small cadre of people who may think alike, they may find it difficult to operate in shifting domains.
Many churches are wrestling with new ways to interpret Scripture. Here are a few realities that will happen when leadership decides to go in a new direction.
What sort of leadership is needed in this time of complexity and uncertainty? I want to explore some implications of Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT) for congregational life.
Our youngest son’s birthday is next week. When he first arrived on the scene, he emanated joy from within. Still does! How might we bomb those around us with joy this week?
Summarized responses from 15,278 congregations and 80 denominations or religious groups resulted in the largest national survey of congregations ever conducted in the U.S.
How can we apply the OODA loop – observe, orient, decide, act – to congregational leadership?
During a time of re-imagination, these challenges can open new doors and help us see our communities in a new light.
Because of your protection, I sing. I stay close to you; your right hand supports me.
We’re all about savoring the moments as they come for the wonderment they contain, regardless of what was expected or seems comparatively lacking.
We have spiritualized or prioritized the methods over the mission to the point that we think they are one and the same.
Inclusion means that the congregation embraces the inherent value in all voices and seeks to make them an active part of the whole.
From my experience, resistance to gender inclusion was far more about fear, conflict, and change than anything else.
In a time when things are changing rapidly, the one thing that brings order in the chaos is the thing that does not change.
The hope of Christianity embraces a world of hopelessness. Ours is the most real hope of all, because death sits at its center.
As explorers in new territory, we will need to rely on other explorers as we learn to follow well the presence of God’s spirit.
