Building on the foundation of two earlier articles, let’s now address the direction and diversity of collaboration. The first article was Compete or Collaborate: The Dilemmas for Christian Ministries, and the second was Critical Understanding About Collaboration for Christian Ministries….
Critical understandings about collaboration for Christian ministries
Building on a previous article entitled Compete or Collaborate: The Dilemma for Christian Ministries, I want to delve into the direction and diversity of collaboration among Christian ministries. But to do this I must first lay out some critical understandings…
More about what lay leaders say about their dying churches
Mildred is dying. Mildred’s church is also dying. She is 82 years old and has an illness that is killing her. She has attended her church for the 43 years her family has lived in the area. She is seen…
Congregations fix yesterday’s mistakes, hoping they will solve tomorrow’s challenges
No doubt the tragic death of 150 people involving Germanwings Flight 9525 on March 24 is of such extreme seriousness that no trite applications of what happened should be put forth. At the same time, the actions and lessons of…
Feeling or flinging in basketball and an authentic Christian lifestyle
A personal game-within-a-game I play when watching basketball games is to guess in the split second between the time when a player shoots a jump shot and it comes down in or near the basket whether or not they felt…
Compete or collaborate
The Dilemma for Christian Ministries I have encountered several situations recently where it appeared Christian ministries prefer to compete rather than collaborate. They wanted the success of their own ministry or congregation or denomination rather than the significance of kingdom…
What do lay leaders say about their dying congregations?
We have often heard stories of what people say on their deathbed about the wise, not so wise, and foolish ways they spent their life. Recently I wondered about what lay leaders might say about their dying congregations. My focus…
7 ways Lyle Schaller transformed the North American church
In the midst of the urban crisis and social upheaval of the 1960s, an interventionist who is now considered a giant among North American Protestants began to write, speak, and consult with local churches and denominations. From the foundation of…
I thought by now racism would be a thing of the past
But I was wrong. On the night of April 4, 1968, there was a knock on my college dorm room door. It swung open and a leading vocal racist on our hall stood at the door with a smile on…