Talking with a colleague this week, I was asked, “What common denominators are vital, flourishing churches displaying today?” The following response is unscientific, more story-driven than data-driven, and by no means an exhaustive list. (In fact, we would love to hear from you about what you...
Our friend and colleague, Elizabeth Lynn, Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, recently published an incredibly helpful article in Faith and Leadership that outlines the myriad challenges many congregations face when it comes to church buildings, property, and space. In addition to summarizing the challenges, Elizabeth...
My church folx have teased me for years with the prospect of a gift that never materializes: a t-shirt that says “I’m not the boss of that.” It’s something I say frequently to remind them and me both that I’m not the final arbiter on...
Last month, several of us – staff and facilitators for the Ministry Collaborative, met in Boulder, Colorado to discuss the future of what it means to be church. The amazingly creative ways many of us are navigating the uncertainty of the times is both encouraging...
Easter Sunday is the ultimate Good News Sunday. Lent is done. The true triumph of Palm Sunday is revealed. The lurking doom of Maundy Thursday is over. The pain of Good Friday is finished. Finally … Easter! Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed! Now what? Do...
At a recent Ministry Collaborative gathering we were invited to reimagine church. The folks at my table meandered onto the topic of language, specifically the larger culture’s (understandable) suspicion of Christian language in light of its all too frequent use as a weapon to wound...
Can you hear it? “I am the good shepherd.” It’s the voice of our faithful and steadfast shepherd, Jesus the Christ. He’s calling you by name. He knows you – He knows all of us – as intimately as the Father and the Son know one another in...
I love to travel. I took a plane for the first time when I was a teenager and recognized the privilege of experiencing and exploring new places. As the daughter of a coalmining father and a stay-at-home mother, the luxury of travel was not lost...
I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 In a Denver-area congregation I served some years ago, there was a family who had come...