Blog
Most congregations like to pin overall responsibility for growth on the senior clergy leader. Fundamentally, most of us still believe that outstanding preaching and worship is what draws people into the large congregation. These two areas of congregational life are under the direct oversight of the senior pastor; therefore, the senior pastor is the “one” […]
Read MoreWhat are the central essential characteristics that make this congregation unique? This is a question that I frequently pose to congregations who engage me as their consultant. Healthy congregations typically provide a concise response to this question and the response is consistent when posed to different leaders in different venues. Healthy congregations know who they […]
Read MoreTraditionally, those who study the health and vitality of congregations have used average weekend worship as the pivotal evaluator of congregational well-being. The average number of people who participate in weekend worship (including children in the Sunday school program and their teachers/care providers) has long been viewed as the best indicator of the active number […]
Read MoreThe question seems almost too obvious, doesn’t it? When asked this question, most church leaders respond that the staff of the church is the group of people that the church employs. And this response is more or less accurate. However, many congregations have volunteers who effectively serve as staff members of the church and don’t get […]
Read More“Hi, my name is Carol. I’m sorry to arrive late. I’m part of the foundation that paid to finance this work that brought you here.” (Big Smile) These were the words of a late arrival at a recent training session in a congregation. I was training facilitators who were about to conduct focus groups as part […]
Read MoreOne of the challenges of large church leadership is learning to recognize stagnation before it drags you down. The large church is often likened to the ocean liner; slow to respond and slow to turn. The large congregation is capable of maintaining momentum over long periods of time, but when stagnation seeps in and the […]
Read MoreCan I supervise someone more gifted or more knowledgeable than I? This question came to me in the form of a potential case study submitted by a participant in my upcoming 3 day workshop on staffing and supervision. Many a supervisor has failed at the act of supervision by convincing himself that he is not […]
Read MoreThe phone rang late on Friday afternoon. I answered to the voice of an exhausted coaching client who needed help thinking through a “personnel issue”. He warned me that the situation would require some explaining and then launched into a ten minute description of a series of entanglements that involved the head of staff, a […]
Read MoreLife changed in unexpected ways when my husband and I had our third child. Becoming first time parents had been jarring. We expected life as we knew it to disappear upon the arrival of that first child, and although we were stressed by the transition we were more or less prepared for the turmoil. The […]
Read MoreThis past week I led a leadership retreat for a group of denominational executive leaders. We used the theme of narratives to explore the shape of leadership they are providing in this difficult chapter of Church life. I loved hearing them share their stories of call and vocation. On the opening night of the retreat many […]
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