Church Renewal takes time. It takes time to pray, listen, learn, imagine, collaborate, coordinate, execute measure and refine. The time challenge has increased with Covid-19’s demands for new skills, new investments and new practices. In …
Red, Yellow and Green-light People
Every church has red, yellow and green light people. Green-lighters are early adopters who eagerly embrace fresh ideas. Yellow-lighters will experiment if thoughtful attention has been given to the potential downsides of a proposal. Red-lighters, …
The Power of Stories to Shape Our Story
If you ask a top athlete how they got into their sport they will typically share an inspiring origin story about their first golf outing with mom, about watching the U.S. Gymnastics team win gold or …
Gospel Renewal in Race Relations
Christians are pained by the racial injustices that are pervasive in our nation’s history. Our hearts and prayers are with all who have faced racial discrimination and outright cruelty. Forces of darkness seek to tear …
The Great Opportunity
What will the American church be like in 2050? That question is explored in a 127-page research project funded by the Pinetops Foundation (https://www.greatopportunity.org). Their conclusion was shocking. If present trends continue, over 40 million young …
The Importance of Reinvesting in Life-Together
A leading casualty of the pandemic has been the weakening of communal glue. An important priority for renewal leaders is reinvesting in life-together. In early pandemic research, Barna has noted that 1 in 3 practicing …
Navigating Accelerated Changes
Recently, I heard someone say, “The pandemic hasn’t changed history, its accelerated history.” Their observation was about society in general, but it’s also true for the church. The change churches are experiencing is something we …
How To Renew an Aging Congregation
As life with COVID-19 continues, churches are returning to earlier conversations about renewal. One challenge many of these congregations face is that they have a majority of chronologically aging members. Renewing an aging congregation has …
We are all restarts now
“Well it’s official,” said my executive assistant this past week, “we are all restarts now.” She’s right, nearly every church is now a restart. A typical church restart is a congregation that closes for several …
Faith formation restart
Churches gathering for in-person worship are seeing return rates of 30-40%, notes Ken Braddy of Lifeway Christian Resources. In my observation, there are three reasons for lagging participation: on-going health concerns, new on-line worship practices, …
