Dear people in churches, When your pastor, church staff and lay leaders try transforming your church into a more vitalized body of Christ, they will inevitably encounter resistance, push back and sometimes attacks and character assassination. Our role is not…
In Ukraine: ‘We cannot just preach like we did before the war’
Ukrainian pastors have radically adjusted their ministries to meet the physical and spiritual needs of church members and countrymen since Russian forces invaded Ukraine almost a year ago. So says Igor Bandura, a pastor and vice president of the All-Ukrainian…
The present crisis for church staff
Churches in America have been living amid rapid change for several decades now, accelerated like a dive on a roller coaster by COVID. Previously, much of our attention has focused on institutional change and challenges, the big picture of congregations…
What The Atlanta Opera and theater companies might teach the church about post-COVID adaptation
“The show must go on” was the mantra of many performance organizations forced to become even more creative during the COVID pandemic. Operas moved outside, and bassoonists took their bows online. Churches followed suit and pivoted to streaming worship services…
Churches must learn to adapt to ‘permanent transition,’ Leonard stresses
Churches must tap into the core of their identity, as well as their calling to ministry, commitment to education and religious experience if they are to survive “permanent transition,” church historian Bill Leonard told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s…
The gospel according to mammals
If I were not a pastor, my life would look very, very different. In fact, after I graduated with an undergraduate degree in anthropology, I had two options to consider: one of my professors encouraged me to apply for an…
The dangers of being too resistant to change or too eager to change
We typically think of proverbs as sources of guidance about how to live. However, the kind of guidance you can get from a proverb is tricky, since different proverbs appear to give conflicting advice. There’s the admonition to “Look before…
The Beatles: Get Back — Returning to the root of something can be a productive, if elusive, exercise
I remember Dec. 9, 1980, like it was yesterday. I woke to the news that John Lennon had been murdered the night before as he returned home to the Dakota Apartments in New York. I was a 13-year-old Beatles fan…
Most comprehensive study yet of COVID’s impact on churches finds uneven results
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the decline facing most congregations in America, but the effects are not evenly distributed among all churches, according to the most comprehensive study to date of the pandemic and congregational life. The “Exploring the Pandemic…