Our inboxes—perhaps like yours—have been flooded with election-related emails in the last month. There have been requests for money (and more requests, and more requests), pleas for volunteers, and updates on polls and strategy. As we headed into election week, however, there came a change. ...
It is inevitable for most church boards that, during times of uncertainty (like now) or contentious board discussions (potentially like now), people get to thinking, if only we knew more … or if only the people on the other side of the issue understood more...
What is the church for? Increasingly, this question is coming into focus as an essential question to ask – and answer – for congregations, their pastors, and their church boards. Most faith communities have long assumed they know what they exist for. Sadly, the year 2020...
Before writing our piece this week, we called a colleague who is a gifted pastor of a mid-sized healthy congregation. “So, what are you thinking about in the midst of this fall’s stewardship emphasis in your church?” The pastor’s succinct response: “Ugh.” Among pastors and church leaders,...
For some, it is the loss of salad bars. As the Wall Street Journal reported last week: A casualty of the pandemic, the days of the salad bar are gone for the foreseeable future. …[T]o devotees, the banishment of buffet bars signifies the closing of a cherished...
Once you reach your 60s (or so we hear . . .), the annual physical at the doctor’s office may include a memory test. Spell “world” backward. Sure. Subtract 7 from 100 until you get less than 50. Got it. What day of the week is it? Uh...
As the multiple challenges of 2020 lengthen and deepen, and the pressures on pastors and church boards proliferate, it is helpful to hold onto some Biblical and theological truths and then follow those truths wherever they lead. Here’s one such truth, supported by creation accounts...
Today, we take you to the NBA three-point line. We tend to stay away from sports analogies, but this one is less about basketball and more about risk, efficiency, change, and the development of new skills. The three-point shot was introduced to NBA games in 1979,...
It’s helpful for those of us working in or with churches to remember that we – and our institutions – are not as special as we often think we are. For every invaluable reminder that the church has a unique calling in our world (the church...