More than 65 years of “church going” has made me appreciate a comfortable “church.” My bum is not what it used to be, so a little padding helps — actually a lot. A good sound system that can fill in…
Moving churches from risk management to risk-taking
On this one-year anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic, it seems appropriate to take stock and assess the American church. For many of us, the year has been the challenge of a lifetime in ministry leadership. The obstacles…
Church leadership series offers help finding resilience required to navigate change
Church leaders in denial that change is inevitable got a wakeup call during the coronavirus outbreak. “The pandemic has made it so that now everybody is paying attention” to change, said Tod Bolsinger, executive director of the Fuller Depree Center’s…
Six lessons living with chronic illness has taught me about surviving a pandemic
For the last seven years, I’ve battled chronic pain and illness. A traumatic back injury in 2013 was only the beginning of what these years have held for me. Intense treatments and therapies with very slow results kept me hopeful…
What will we see less of and more of in America’s churches in the 2020s?
Even with all the uncertainties around and within us, there appear to be some broad truths and trends emerging that are going to define our work in the Church for the foreseeable future.
Much has changed over the past two months. Some changes are worth holding on to.
Let’s pray that, in some ways, our world never returns to its pre-COVID-19 “normal.”
Leaving the corners of our fields unharvested for the sake of the most vulnerable | #intimeslikethese
What if this, our most recent apocalypse, was met by a Church willing to do more than hastily broadcast its services online – a Church willing to love, serve and give up itself, and even its budget, for the sake of the world?
The Good News of Christmas calls the Church to embrace the ‘F’ word
As a Baptist pastor I can no longer avoid the “F” word; if anything, I must lean into it, embracing it for the sake of the Gospel.
Pastors as ‘hybrid sailors’? New models for effective leadership in today’s churches
Borrowing from scripture and the U.S. Navy, I suggest a pastor’s role in today’s world should be like that of Jesus, who began his movement with the flexibility of a new type of vessel, a small crew and the vision of a new creation based on the pattern of heaven.
Jason may be an obscure biblical character, but he offers insight for today’s church
The spirit of Jason is one of adventure and a willingness to embrace the possibility of the new, a spirit that embraces the upside-down way of Jesus. Maybe the church today needs more upside-down ways of thinking.
Why I don’t buy the gloomy forecasts about the church’s future
I believe there has never been a better day to be the church. Indeed, I believe the 21st century will find the church of Jesus Christ emerging from decades of slow decline to rediscover authentic community, witness and vibrancy.
Check your idols at the church door. Trinket gods aren’t worth much.
Let’s name these false deities security, convenience and control. These are not three separate gods. They are the same idols, simply described in different ways, each highlighting different connotations and pointing in slightly different trajectories.