Listening to all the soul-searching and finger-pointing among Republicans since Election Day reminds me of the conversations that have been going on in many American churches for several decades. The puzzling ingredient for both groups is demographic change and how—or…
The morning after: Relevant or retro?
By Bill Leonard “Their relevancy has moved away from them.” That statement bubbled up on cable TV’s Morning Joe the morning after Barak Obama won re-election as president of the United States. It was one commentator’s sound bite assessment of…
The confusion of ‘most’ or ‘many’ — even among Baptists
Recently I began reading a book I was sent to review. It is by two people I know well; one of them more than the other. The one I know better is often given to over-statement and over-generalization. I found…
The conflict pandemic
By Bill Wilson Whenever I address a group about the work our organization does, I mention that one of our frequent calls is to help a congregation, staff, judicatory or organization manage conflict. Our conflict intervention calls are on the…
Thoughts on election year conduct
This summer while visiting various sites in the ancient Roman Empire, I tried to brush up on my knowledge of the history of Western Civilization. Just to make a full disclosure, the only “D” I made in college was in…
Downsizing staff without destroying your congregation
Have you ever been downsized? It hurts, doesn’t it? It hurts the person who is downsized. It hurts their family. It hurts other employees. It even hurts bosses who have a deep, compassionate spirit. Just think what happens when you…
Pitfalls of worship
By Bob Burroughs There are some pitfalls in worship. Sometimes, things go wrong at the right time. We try hard to overcome these obstacles as they appear and try to patch them as best we can with temporary solutions, but…
Billy Graham and politics
My maternal grandmother thought Billy Graham was a saint above all others. You simply could not say anything negative about the evangelist in her presence. She held the same regard for Jimmy Carter, because she considered him a godly man…
Holding your staff accountable
By Bill Wilson At the Center for Congregational Health, we find that many times staff members operate in a congregational world devoid of healthy accountability. Without a thoughtful, rational system in place, evaluation and accountability disintegrate into personal opinion and…
Is it still, ‘If we build it they will come’?
Many of us remember the 1989 movie “The Field of Dreams.” It is about the sense of compulsion a nearly bankrupt Iowa farmer felt to build a baseball field in the middle of acres of corn. The voice he kept…
Religious litmus tests
American Christianity deeply troubles me. It’s not because some sociologists are saying that the influence and prominence of religion in American public life is declining. It’s not because more and more clergy leaders are leaving the ministry for less stressful…
When callings and choir robes collide
By Amy Butler The other day I was remembering my first involvement in a church as an independent adult. My first grown-up church was a big, suburban congregation with a fancy building and lots of fun programming for college students….