Ever since the first Jesus followers were tagged with the title “Christians,” labels have been a point of description and controversy throughout the 2,000 years of our movement. From Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians to the kaleidoscope of labels birthed…
Hope in conflict
Today’s mainline denominations are doing plenty of fighting. Some of the disagreements break into the news and public consciousness, while others only affect the faithful. All of this fighting is deeply unsettling, but it also reflects what one observer calls…
New pastors, small churches
Update March 2015: The program described in this story has been renamed Small Church Residency Program. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), like many denominations, has two challenges: thousands of small churches in need of pastors and hundreds of new seminary graduates…
Can the church ever be united?
Last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at the Rosedale Congregational United Church of Christ (RCC) in Kansas City, Kansas. As RCC is currently without a pastor, I was asked to preach each Sunday this month, and I much…
Kick ’em out: Why it’s gotten so hard to work together
Altitude is a key factor in future stories of Christian ministry
For many years I have helped congregations and denominational organizations write their future story of ministry. Generally these stories look a decade into the future to imagine what their ministry might be like. It pulls movements forward rather than pushes…
Denominations Now Provide Fewer Resources for Congregations
Previously covered in my series is the death of the gapology framework for denominations, and the fact that money follows the information flow more than it follows the denominational channels. This post deals with the third element no longer part…
This kind of denomination IS dead
Anyone who has followed my lifelong trek through the maze of denominational staff service, and consulting and coaching with denominational organizations, knows that I believe in denominations. I also believe they have a future that respects their past and present….
Great Commission and Great Commandment without synergy?
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001? I do too. That is a morning very difficult to forget. I was sitting in the lobby restaurant of a hotel in…
Are church camps, conference centers going away?
What is your most memorable experience at a church camp or conference center? Write it down quickly before these camps and conference centers disappear. My first remembrance of Ridgecrest Conference Center in western North Carolina is when I was five…
All denominations should care baptisms are down among Southern Baptists
The first response of many people may be “I don’t care”. That’s fine. You have that right. But you ought to care. More about that later. Keep reading. Why Are Baptisms Down Among Southern Baptist Churches? First, take note of…
Choose ye this day diversity
A strong, natural, cultural tendency among humankind—even those committed to loving all people—is to be in community with those considered to be “our kind of people”. The tendency is to swarm with people with whom there is the least diversity…