WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO, MAKE DINNER!

During the month of January, churches throughout the DC area have been organizing to offer free evening meals to federal workers and their families. It is a very small thing in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't pay the mortgage or keep Volkswagen from coming to take away the family car.   But it is something. And it says, "We see your situation." It says, "We want to be community with you in this situation." It says, "You are not alone in this." It says, "We love you."

A CRITICAL CONVERSATION

Earlier this month I filmed a commercial for a course I am teaching in the Spring semester at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC.  It is truly a new world when academic courses come with video commercials to help students decide what to take in a given semester.

FLIPPING OUR RELATIONSHIP TO CHURCH BUILDINGS

Earlier this month I was a part of what United Methodists call a Paragraph 213 Meeting - a meeting looking at the viability of current congregational ministry versus the possibilities of their community.  In this case it was a P213 on Steroids - as we were looking at 10 churches simultaneously across a small urban region.  Among the things that became clear:

THE GREAT WORK OF OUR TIME

As I tinker with the last edits of my new book MULTI (coming to you this winter), I am beyond the major writing - more into the stage of ruminating.  Why did I really write the book - what are the implications?  MULTI is about how diverse groups of people forge partnership as church.  It is about how we are able to step beyond tribal perspectives and allegiances into God's greater possibilities of community, healing and human thriving.

SAILING THROUGH A HURRICANE

Years ago, a couple in my church retired and embarked on a trip of a lifetime. They cruised around the world. They came back with great stories - but the one I most remember is the night that they met a Category 1 typhoon in the Indian Ocean. Apparently it popped up suddenly, and the captain decided it would be best to just plow through. Everyone on board received Dramamine, delivered to their state rooms before bedtime. All ship activity was curtailed for an evening and they put folks to bed. By morning the sun was out and they had passed though the storm.

DISTRACTED BY BUILDINGS

In this age of rising real estate costs and aging church facilities, questions about and concern for buildings often gets in the way of ministry.  I am not an anti-building person - I just know that too often these days, the building becomes the tail that wags the dog.  Add in the likelihood that the average American adult Christian these days  will have lower income and higher debt load than their parents.  It all means that churches must do a serious rethink about our relationship to physical facilities.

TOP TEN REASONS THAT CHURCHES PLATEAU IN GROWTH

In these dog days of twenty-first century summer, only about one in ten churches are growing in the United States.  But as a coach, more of my churches are growing than not - so we still are in the plateau-busting business!  As a matter of definition - a plateau is when a growing church hits an invisible ceiling to its growth.  I was once in leadership at a church where we were stuck for 3 years at 1400 in worship attendance.  That church started two more campuses and grew by another 1000.  Here are the top ten reasons for plateau, as I see them these days: