In times of stress and uncertainty, the way forward is seldom about more information. Yet it is not surprising that church boards are currently in search of any shred of information to help them make decisions in this stressful and uncertain time. In 2015, researchers from...
So many congregations right now are awash in uncertainty, haunted by loss, and longing for normalcy or a way back. It is imperative that church boards find ways to talk honestly, truthfully, with sensitivity and with tenderness, about where we are. We think that Tracy K....
Have your ambitions for your congregation changed over the past few years? If so, you are not alone. Among the many things that the pandemic has altered is our sense of ambition for ourselves and for our institutions. Signs of the change are everywhere, from last...
You may have noticed: we stay far away from sports metaphors in these pieces. Quotes about winning and training and teamwork have a limited shelf life, as well as being narrow in their appeal. So today we are making up for it by piling four...
Church boards have returned from a summer hiatus only to find that the more things change, the more things are the same. Plans are uncertain. Stewardship committees are uncertain. Pastors’ energy and resilience is uncertain. Everyone’s ability to navigate the divisions of our polarized society...
Digging a Deeper Well will go on hiatus starting next week for what we think is a terrific reason. Your co-authors are going to be married in nine days and then take a couple weeks to travel afterwards. When we met almost five years ago, initially...
It was a casual aside by Seth Godin, during a recent interview with Debbie Millman. Talking about leadership that is resilient and bold, Godin pointed to the actor Gene Kelly in his iconic performance in Singing in the Rain. He noted that Kelly closes the...
We had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours recently with a gifted group of church board leaders. Among the several questions we discussed with this group, one seemed to register most deeply, judging by people’s widespread sighs, forward leans, and nods of assent. How...
The history of exploration is punctuated by accounts of those who sought to forge a new path, only to find that what they thought was the endpoint turned out to be just a stop along the way. Scaling one of the world’s highest peaks for...