As we navigate this spring, some of us may be navigating a difficult end to this congregational year with difficult decisions on the horizon. Some of us may be preparing to end things on an appreciative and hopeful note with bountiful picnics. Some of us may be preparing to take risks...

As human beings we are conflict avoidant – until we are not. Then we are willing to destroy one another. Conflict begins when there is more than one idea, opinion, or experience in the room. We are so conflict avoidant that we even avoid using the word conflict for this experience. We can’t see...

When all is going wrong and you're scared as hell What you gonna do? Who you gonna tell? A hundred bad days made a hundred good stories A hundred good stories make me interesting at parties, yeah No, I ain't scared of you No, I ain't scared of you no more -AJR, “100 Bad Days”, Neotheater Can you...

We had about a minute in, when, June? when we in congregations thought we were on the path to pandemic freedom. I don’t know about you but I definitely was imagining A Return To Normal Church.

Developing teams and processes to help Congregational Life Staff serve congregations in conflict.

In the middle of a pandemic when none of us have all of our cylinders firing consistently, when all of us are experiencing extra pressure, confusion, and fear, as well as illness, loss, and grief, we need to be clear.

When I was a child, I was fascinated by terrariums. There can be something alluring about creating miniature worlds. It’s a chance to observe a world under glass.

Learning to understand human communities (and in our case, congregations) as systems has been an ongoing learning process for the past several decades for family therapists, organizational development consultants and social scientists....

An overview of the nine principles of Emergent Strategy from adrienne maree brown.

A confluence of events has come together to create a season of potential miscommunication, reactivity, and disconnection.