Congregation
It's not too late
In leading your church, have you ever thought "it's too late" to start a new class, solve a problem, or try a new church strategy? Or, "we missed our chance?" Or, the best one -- "we tried that once and it didn'
Creativity
church as abbey
Do some things for fun
Last Wednesday night we had a cookout at our church. Not a new idea or big news, but it was fun. Fun, despite the fact that we had to move inside from the town park next door because rain was on the way. Fun, even though we were jammed into
Creativity
Two blogs I always read...and one new one
I pared down my Google reader list several weeks ago. I was trying to keep up with too many blogs, too many bloggers, and too many categories. Now I have 5 categories -- culture, emerging church, marketing, simple life, and small church -- 33 subscriptions in all, down from about
Congregation
Are we still excluding the people from worship?
A recent post on worship here got some conversation going about what is worship? One comment noted the word "liturgy" literally means "work of the people." Evangelicals are quick with criticism of the ancient mass from which the common people were excluded. But, are we doing
bless the world
What if your church started a business?
In her book, Isle of the Saints: Monastic Settlement and Christian Community in Early Ireland , Dr. Lisa M. Bitel states "The archaelogical evidence of [Celtic monastic] enclosures...suggests that living within the sight of the monastic enclosure was useful to farmers and herders, doubtless economically as well as spiritually.
bless the world
The future of small churches in a changing economy
I don't mean to harp on this, but the current rise in oil prices impacts more than just where we take our next vacations. As James Howard Kunstler states in his article, Wake Up America, We're Driving Toward Disaster: As the world passes the all-time oil
Congregation
Special Sundays Increase Attendance
Last year for our 150th anniversary, we scheduled one special Sunday celebration per month from January through July. Our sesquicentennial Sundays were so successful that we decided to schedule one special Sunday per month during 2008. Here's what we did: 1. We chose the same Sunday of each
church as abbey
Soundcheck: Teen open mic night
Tonight was the last Soundcheck for this school year. Soundcheck is a teen open mic night sponsored by our church and other local groups. Kids run the show -- from emceeing to performing to managing the flow of the evening teens are in charge. Of course, adult advisors are close
Creativity
The stories we tell ourselves
I was actually going to write a post about "the stories we tell ourselves" tomorrow, but then I read Seth Godin's post "Which comes first (why stories matter)" and he says it very well. Substitute "ministry" for "work" in his
Congregation
Church wants to be free
An interesting article by Kevin Kelly got me thinking about church. Church, I believe, wants to be free. Not free, like "Free Willy." I'm not talking about an imprisoned behemoth that wants to leap the channel net into freedom, although that might be another post in
Creativity
Some thoughts to tide you over
The community center is coming along nicely, and we are about 75-days away from getting the keys. Which means a lot of work ordering furnishings, contacting utility companies, planning the opening, and so on. All seems to be piling in at once, plus the continuing change-orders, additions, and problem-solving that
Congregation
Creative worship resource
Jonny Baker is one of the most creative guys I have seen when it comes to worship. He has an on-going list of 'worship tricks' that amaze, inspire, and provoke thought. I really like this one posted up on freshworship.org titled, Hagar Blessing. Jonny calls it '