by Diane J. Strickland Some years ago I attended a worship service in which the organist played the music for one anthem while the choir opened their music and sang a completely different one. At first it sounded like the performance…
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Love is a Miracle
There’s a miracle story in the Bible that’s so important that it shows up in all four Gospels.It takes place on a crowded hillside where thousands of people have gathered to hear Jesus preach. It gets to be late in…
Read MoreUnconventional Wisdom: Whither Interim Ministry
by Dan Hotchkiss A file-drawer label popped out at me as I moved into my new office. It said, “VACANT CHURCHES.” For a moment, I imagined empty buildings all across the continent. Then I opened up the drawer, flipped through folders,…
Read MoreDiscernment, Theology, and Prayer
This approach is based on the premise that all of us are in a relationship with a God who is ever more ready to communicate with us than we are to listen, a God who is ever more ready to…
Read MoreThe Danger in “Getting By”
Many congregations — maybe yours—are tempted to “play it safe” or “tweak” a little here and there during this time of unprecedented change in our culture and in our various religious traditions. Not so different from many of us in…
Read MoreFrom Champion to Church: How Being on a Championship Team Taught Me How to Lead a Church
Back in May of 2011, I had the opportunity to be part of a rare event. At halftime of the NCAA Division II lacrosse championship game, I walked onto the field of M&T Stadium in Baltimore, the stadium where the…
Read MoreMeasuring Size and Complexity
Life changed in unexpected ways when my husband and I had our third child. Becoming first-time parents had been a jarring experience. We expected life as we knew it to disappear upon the arrival of that first child, and although…
Read MoreWisdom from Loren Mead
In 1991, The Once and Future Church by Alban Institute founder and president emeritus Loren B. Mead created an instant sensation in congregational circles with its prophetic insights into the mission of the church in a post-Christendom era. Two subsequent…
Read MoreLife After Governance Change
An anthropologist from Pluto might be forgiven for misclassifying board and committee meetings among the sacred rites of Earth religion. Meetings, with their arid liturgy of motions, seconds, minutes, and reports, give comfort and security to some, while driving others…
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