I’ve read them. I feel like I’ve read them all-the letters from well-meaning, well-written peers of mine. Posts penned by young (well, relatively young) people unhappy with and enlightened by the woes of the Church.
The city in 2050
Time to rethink everything
By Jim Kitchens CHC Consultant When I was the pastor of Second Presbyterian in Nashville, one of my friends was the pastor of a thriving tall steeple United Methodist church in town. It was the sort of church that might…
Can you survive the invasion of a mega church?
If you are like many pastors, some Monday mornings can be very blue. Your sermon did not go as well as you had imagined. A widow complained to you after the worship service that you did not visit her in…
Small town churches embracing identity as sacred space
I was once on staff at a small church in the Houston area. We had less than 150 people weekly, but our property situated on a busy road where nearly 30,000 cars a day passed us by. One might think…
Church workers need a new target other than numbers
Life requires replication. If something does not replicate, its kind will not continue on-just ask that Shaker you know. A 1000 person church is impressive. A church of 100 folks that over the course of 40 years empowers and sends…
A church reborn
On a Thursday afternoon in a poor, run-down section of Durham, N.C., the parking lot outside Shepherd’s House United Methodist Church is full. On the second and third floor of the neo-Gothic brick building, the floorboards creak as employees and…
Coping with opposition
While living in Louisville, Kentucky (while attending seminary many more years ago than I would like to admit) I was briefly employed as a youth minister for a 150-year-old congregation located downtown. Situated in what had been a very prosperous…