… is crucial, as a church board discerns God’s activity, or as a faithful congregation discerns its way forward. Hopefully we have established that polling or surveying a congregation is among the worst of the options. But what are some wiser options for discernment? Today...
Today, the demolition of our congregation’s kitchen begins. It’s going to be a major disruption—let’s be honest, it already has been. The conversation about the kitchen was alive well before I arrived five years ago to Christ on Capitol Hill (Saint Paul, Minnesota), my fourth...
In the instructions Paul gives the followers of Jesus at Corinth about the Lord’s Supper, we may also glean some wisdom for church boards. 1 Corinthians 11:23-33 23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night...
It looked like a weed - the tiny sprig of green that sprouted in the crack of my front walkway. I passed it for days as I rushed out the front door headed for work. With each passing, the growing leaves reminded me to add...
For the last several weeks we have been talking about the “volunteer line” and how it is increasingly difficult for congregational leaders to recruit participants for the activities and organizations under their umbrella. Sometimes, church board members, pastors, and/or those active in churches see this...
“God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” For years the words from 1 John were the crescendo of my well-crafted wedding homily, where I proclaimed to a couple that because they were in love, God was...
Last week, we examined the painful truth of most congregations large and small: no one is standing in line behind you to take your volunteer role when you are ready to lay it down. Going deeper still, a good follow-up question is: why do we...
Several years ago, when our kids were still pretty young and wiggly, we had a particularly bad Sunday in worship. They rattled papers, squirmed, and dropped more than one Matchbox car. We were still fairly new to the community, so we were especially uncomfortable to be...
If there was a time in church life when “Time and Talent Forms” and Sunday morning appeals for new program leaders actually worked, those days are surely over. No one is standing in line behind you to take your church role. Congregations today find themselves with plenty...