Displaying 71 - 80 of 96.
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by Renee Ruchotzke |One of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs (YouTube) begins: Every picture has its shadows And it has some source of light Blindness, blindness and sight… When I talk about leadership qualities, I find that many of the qualities can be either strengths or weaknesses—or somewhere on a continuum... -
by Renee Ruchotzke |Having a clearly articulated mission statement helps to guide a congregation’s leaders in deciding where to put their energy and resources. But often such statements are put together by a committee and can be a bit….(I hate to say it)…wordy. Last year I visited Western Michigan, where the rest... -
by Renee Ruchotzke |How many of our congregations offer programming that isn't working, or has only a very small group of the "usual suspects" participating? In a recent article in The Christian Century, LeeAnne Watkins.... -
by Mark Bernstein |Invite our friends, neighbors and loved ones to experience the place that has brought us such joy and meaning. -
by Renee Ruchotzke |Responding to a changing context in order to keep your congregation vital is hard....really hard. Brain science helps us to understand that we create and use mental models of our reality that help us to filter and make sense of our experiences. But our mental models aren't always accurate or helpful. Here are some models that may be! -
by Tandi Rogers |I like frameworks to help me hang ideas on and organize my thinking. For years I’ve used the growth categories from Ted Buckle and popularized by Loren Mead in his book More Than Numbers: the Way Churches Grow (the words are changed a bit.) At the suggestion of Jan Gartner (Professional... -
by Louise Green |The ideas below come from the Rev. Louise Green's IAF experience and training, particularly through Michael Gecan, National Staff for the Metro IAF in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. For an in-depth look at this method of community organizing, read Gecan’s Going Public, published by... -
Supporting one another is important, but if that is primarily what you do, then your congregation will decline. For a congregation to be alive, vital, and growing, it must have a sense that it exists to serve as well. -
by Connie Goodbread |Small congregations are trying to do too much. They are struggling to put together a quality meaningful worship service and a Children’s Faith Development Program every Sunday. Let’s try something different.
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by Karen Lewis Foley |Don’t try to do everything! Instead, figure out what your congregation does well, and do it, and do more of it!
