THE ELECTRIC FENCE

Pastors are forever discerning the boundaries related to what they can get away with before their church members become too anxious or oppositional. It varies from one place to the next, from one year to the next. If you are new to a place, or to a denomination, it’s easy to misjudge the boundaries. The electric fences are often invisible and you’d never know they were there unless you bump into one… and then ZAP… you know! Once in a small town I dared to hold services on the church premises the same day as the annual cemetery day, which sent some of the old-timers into orbit. Two life-timers quit their membership over that infraction. ZAP!

MINISTRY IN A SEASON OF PERPETUAL CRISIS

The most notable aspect of this moment in history is unending crisis. We have entered a season where there are so many crises that our reptilian brains are shifting into overdrive. Church as we designed it (for the much more stable world of 2019 and earlier) is now not only boring: it is (quite frankly) ridiculous.

REVITALIZING THE HEARTLAND FIRST CHURCH

I just finished a week-long road trip across Kansas and Nebraska visiting Methodist pastors that I am coaching.  These pastors are a sharp bunch.  Their churches are faring better than one would expect in 2022.  Here is a bit of what I saw:

SIX REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS: POST-PANDEMIC

 

Here are six critical ideas foundational to ministry in the 2020s, especially as the public continues to sour in its perception of organized religion:

AS THE PANDEMIC TURNS…

The spring of 2022 is a busy time for me as I seek to play catch-up with on-site church consultations, many of which were postponed during the last Covid surge.  I’ve been in 18 distinctive places meeting with churches and leaders in the past 30 days!!  As I step into life with various churches for a day or two in each place, two distinctive realities are becoming clear. It is either feast or famine.

THE MOTHER OF ALL SPRINGTIMES

 

As we ride the tail end of the Omicron wave into late winter, we proceed into spring with the highest communal Covid immunity to date. Chances are good that we will enjoy a respite from the pandemic madness for a stretch of time.  Who knows what late summer or fall will bring as immunity diminishes? But from Lent to Pentecost, the road is looking mighty fine.

THE CHANGING FACE OF CHURCH CONSULTATION

Twenty-five years ago this spring, Ken Callahan came to my church for a local church consultation.  I was blown away by his hyper-focus and sense of clarity which came from working with lots of churches.  Because he was not so deeply enmeshed in our particular situation with its challenges, he could see things that we could not.  It was one of the most remarkable experiences of my life - the sense of Ah Ha that enabled our church to quickly make some strategic decisions that would result in us reaching hundreds of new people.  i don’t recall what we paid him per day - but it was worth it!