What kind of congregation do you want? That query precedes the probe into the kind of person you want as pastor? For 15 years I trained churches and their “Pastor Search Committees.” In recent months, I have begun to wonder whether…
Learning the unlearning curve
Leaving the familiar is critical to travel and to life. Doing something new is sometimes impossible unless you move past what is traditional, usual. An important part of human growth is detaching from what has been important previously. A 20…
Desperate to avoid (dealing with) death
Recently I spoke at a conference of Retirement Community Chaplains. My thesis was that people who deal with the vicissitudes of life best tend to deal best with the reality of death. There are 72-year-old men and women who seem to…
Churchcraft
By Marion Aldridge I have coined a new word: Churchcraft. What I mean by Churchcraft is an individual’s ability to say and do the things that will help to build the organized church. My observation is that a lack of…
Churchcraft
I have coined a new word: Churchcraft. What I mean by Churchcraft is an individual’s ability to say and do the things that will help to build the organized church. My observation is that a lack of Churchcraft is the…
Opinions!
Baptists are an opinionated crowd. We were taught to be that way. Preachers invest a lot of time and energy saying we ought to do this and that we should not or must not do that. If you grew up…
No wiggle room on a church staff
(This blog describes a problem I have never heard named. Unfortunately, I have not proposed a solution. I hope I am starting a helpful conversation, since I don’t have a Final Answer. What are your ideas?) Most churches are small….
No wiggle room on a church staff
By Marion Aldridge Most churches are small. Compared to the government’s various definitions of “small business,” which can be 50-500 employees, our congregations are tiny. It is a rare church that has a dozen employees. Most have one (the pastor)…
How to welcome a new pastor to your church
When Beth McConnell was being introduced to our congregation as our new pastor, someone asked her what we could do to make her transition easier. Beth is too humble to give you this list. Over the decades, I have given…
The niche word
Current wisdom for many professions is to find a niche market and focus. You can’t just write about travel. You have to write about gay travel or traveling as a handicapped person or travel in the Florida Keys or travel…
Would the real Jesus please stand up?: A Holiday Book Review
On American soil, Jesus was the subject of more evangelical hymns than the Father and the Holy Spirit combined. In fact, while evangelical hymns largely ignored the church, the sacraments, and the Trinity, they were obsessed with Jesus. American Jesus:…
A “buyer’s market” for pastor search committees
The 21st century is proving to be a buyer’s market for many churches that are looking for a pastor. Even a tiny, troubled Baptist church can get 100 resumes from men and women looking for a church to pastor. A…