Maybe there was a time, decades ago, when serving on a church board meant that you could pretty much guess what folks in your congregation needed and what you should try to provide for them. Maybe. But realistically, ministry today (as probably then) is practiced on a...
Signs of post-Easter and summer’s promise seem to be everywhere in churches now – including, we imagine, in the changing rhythms of your church board. The planning, the work, the worry, the decisions that have consumed your board’s time and energy throughout the “program year” are...
Welcome to our once-a-year post that uses a sports metaphor. Some folks may be aware that major league baseball, following decades of declining interest and increasingly looonngg games, instituted several rule changes this season. One of these changes created a clock for pitchers and batters. ...
As the Church of Jesus Christ, what do we have to offer to the world? The whole world—those who packed your pews on Easter Day, those who really meant to get there, and those who couldn’t care less that we were celebrating the Day of...
Whenever your church board meets for the first time after this Easter Day, there is a good chance that hope will be echoing through the corridors of your church. That is Easter. Easter offers hope to the faithful. Easter does this in good years and...
A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll conducted this month confirms and amplifies the air of uncertainty and anxiety pervading so many conversations – in and out of church – these days. When asked about their level of confidence that life for their children’s generation will be better...
A conversation last week with a group of pastors sounded a familiar theme. Although these pastors belong to different denominations, their refrain was the same when it comes to annual reports. “Why aren’t we ever asked to report on something that actually matters to a community...
One hundred years ago this week, the poem that Robert Frost called “my best bid for remembrance” was published in The New Republic. Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of the best known and loved poems in American literature. Here it is...
“OK, I get it. Out with our three-minute devotion,” wrote one colleague last week in response to our previous two posts. “But what now? If I go to our board with a poem or a longer Bible study, that’s a sudden change. I don’t think...