After major crises, leaders encourage us to get back to normal. Sometimes that’s impossible, though. A new reality emerges, and the old “normal” never returns. What changes have you made in your organization in the last 18 months that are…
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How to make better decisions
Congregations make critical decisions about things that really matter – budgets, starting new programs, eliminating programs, personnel. In so many of the decision-making meetings I attend, we spend tons of energy promoting a decision we reached before the meeting even…
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Are you just tired – or burning out?
A group of ministers told me about a senior pastor they knew who resigned because the demands of ministry had become too much. This was not the first person they knew personally who resigned this year. Such sudden exits make…
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Searching for a pastor is sacred work
Clergy know the long periods of silence between contacts from a pastor search committee. Congregation members know the even-longer period between substantive reports about the activities of a search committee. The members of such committees are very, very busy —…
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Budgets matter
The process of deciding a budget sets priorities for the year. Yet the process can be routine and boring. How can the conversations be livelier, more Spirit-inspired? “Let’s Talk About Resources” — part of Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s “Shifting Ground”…
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Creation care & congregational life
Creation care should be an urgent preaching, teaching and pastoral priority for all of our congregations. In this Weekly, we explore how congregations and other faith-based organizations participate in protecting the planet. In our current ecological crisis, theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim…
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