A personal confession: I was, prior to retirement, a programmatic pastor. In my defense I wanted to increase the percentage of church members who were active rather than passive. And…
Read More
You might say we are beginning to witness the proverbial straw that is about to break the camel’s back. The camel, in this case, is the Protestant ordained ministry. (Including,…
Read More
The pandemic is not only still with us, it is currently surging in areas of the country which, until recently, were not seriously impacted. And while churches in many states…
Read More
As I sit here, under Oregon’s version of quarantine, I have been reflecting on the extraordinary challenges facing American society in general, but also local churches in particular. Even with…
Read More
Congregations in Transition (CiT) coaching has always, from its beginning, been available as an expenses-only, volunteer coaching ministry. But CiT can now provide assistance even when a church finds the…
Read More
There are at least two significant and alarming trends confronting American church bodies in general, and mainline Protestants in particular. One is the developing clergy supply crisis, and the second…
Read More
The word is definitely getting around. The ELCA’s Office of Research and Evaluation, this last spring, released the results of their projection regarding anticipated ELCA decline over the next 31…
Read More