| | | | | | | | | | | | PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We know we need to be healthier. The way our clothes fit tells us. Modern food marketing reminds us. Our doctors offer us laundry lists of strategies to try. And we're always hearing about the latest gimmick, pill, book or plan.
At the same time, we know we cannot simply accept the glossy pictures of health and wellness splashed across magazines and websites; we know the difference between real and Photoshop. We each have to figure out what "healthy" means for our own age, lifestyle, medical history and goals. There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to health and wellness.
The same is true for innovation and the church. We know we need to innovate, and we don't have to look far to find a top-10 list or a three-easy-steps webinar promising to change how we lead.
"Innovation" is a buzzword that sounds current and future-oriented, cutting-edge and idealistic, worthy of repetition and scale. We need innovation in the church; too many pews are emptying, and the church is losing (or some would say has lost) its voice in the community.
"We have to innovate!" becomes the battle cry to keep the heavy doors of our large and underutilized buildings open. Those within the walls know that change is needed, yet most hope the change will affect those outside (and not inside) the church.
But just as it is challenging to begin exercising regularly or eating less sugar, the idea of leading innovation sounds overwhelming -- expensive and laborious. The stories we hear and tell ourselves about rejuvenated institutions meeting the needs of those on the margins, filling their pews with new life and energy, are not always helpful. Ordinary leaders, churches and institutions worry that we don't have the money, talent and scale to succeed.
Read more from Victoria Atkinson White »
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| IDEAS THAT IMPACT: TRADITIONED INNOVATION
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Each of these tips depends on, and points Christian leaders to, the importance of wisdom and growing in intimacy with God, writes the theologian.
Read more from L. Gregory Jones »
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As both pastor and nonprofit executive director, the Rev. Faith Fowler is known for her outreach to the poor. Her latest effort: a village of tiny homes that will allow people to become stakeholders in their neighborhood and in their city.
Read more » |
| ONLINE COURSE: SOURCING INNOVATION
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Chances are good that your institution needs to change in some way if it's to thrive (or even survive). You know it. You embrace the idea. But you don't know what to do, or even where to begin.
Join visual anthropologist and filmmaker Marlon Hall and a community of other Christian leaders for this five-week online course as we move step-by-step through the process of learning from a community, which is the foundational step to engage in innovative ministry.
Sourcing Innovation will provide you with the skills to lead innovation to improve the common life. You will learn to examine your community to determine:Where you want to engage;With whom you want to engage;How to develop meaningful partnerships with those people; andWhat to do with what you learn. Learn more and register »
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Church Mergers: A Guidebook for Missional Change by Thomas G. Bandy and Page M. Brooks
Church Mergers offers churches of all sizes and traditions practical advice on how to merge successfully. Authors Thomas G. Bandy and Page M. Brooks draw on decades of experience to illustrate why and how missional mergers are possible.
Church Mergers guides congregational leaders and regional planners through the process of successful mergers. It shares the stories of four churches in the merger process, explaining the steps to assess their situations, build trust, and discern vision. The book offers guidance to assess the potential for merger, explore contextual relevancy and lifestyle compatibility, overcome internal and external obstacles, define strategic priorities, create new boards, build leadership teams, combine assets, and more.
Church Mergers shows that a faithful, healthy, missional merger is possible, and it illustrates that the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.
Learn more and order the book » |
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