Prolific author and professor Dr. Leonard Sweet, my first academic crush, coined a phrase to describe what it means to live faithfully in a chaotic (and often apostate) culture—the double-ring. Put another way, when we embrace the double-ring, we follow Jesus as if our life depended on it, and we
Americans are gripped by anxiety and depression—it’s the silent epidemic that is not-so-silent. Just in the last decade, the number of people reporting depression symptoms is up by 60 percent. We see it in our congregation, on our ministry team, and under our own roof. It’s why, at the start
Today I met with the pastor of a small church that, for years, has been struggling to keep its head above water. He took over a dying church and a congregational culture that was, well, so politicized that the gospel itself was overshadowed. I’ve been meeting with this pastor, long
The weekend worship service is most-often the tentpole of a church’s spiritual communion with its people. For those of us who’ve grown up in the church, and now serve as ministry leaders in it, the how of what we do in worship is a well-worn track. We know when to
Last night I went with my wife to an annual appreciation dinner for volunteers serving in Project Worthmore, an amazing non-profit outreach focusing on refugees and asylum-seekers in Denver. Bev has previously served as a classroom assistant and now, for the last year, an ESL teacher—helping the marginalized and poor
As a writer myself, I’ve long admired the work of The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson—over the last decade or so, I’ve quoted him often in my books. He’s an agnostic who is perpetually drawn to writing about faith, the church, and the state of religion in America. He bemoans the scandals
If you’ve ever been in need, then you already know that we often don’t know what we really need, or how to ask for help. When someone we care about is in need, we offer a default response: “Please let me know if you need anything.” And then, predictably, that
It’s the great cultural mystery of our time—how can so many, so often, so passionately name themselves “Christian” while adamantly supporting rhetoric and behavior that directly violates the teachings and example of Jesus? I subscribe to three daily news services that cater to Christian ministry leaders, and this perplexing dynamic
We’re nearing the finish line of our four-year research project “4-Soil Parenting,” and one of our primary takeaways is a truth we’ve heard project leaders and parents tell us over and over: Listening is a powerful catalyst for growth. In fact, during this week’s free ministry leadership webinar (“Who’s In
Prolific author and professor Dr. Leonard Sweet, my first academic crush, coined a phrase to describe what it means to live faithfully in a chaotic (and often apostate) culture—the double-ring. Put another way, when we embrace the double-ring, we follow Jesus as if our life depended on it, and we
Americans are gripped by anxiety and depression—it’s the silent epidemic that is not-so-silent. Just in the last decade, the number of people reporting depression symptoms is up by 60 percent. We see it in our congregation, on our ministry team, and under our own roof. It’s why, at the start
Today I met with the pastor of a small church that, for years, has been struggling to keep its head above water. He took over a dying church and a congregational culture that was, well, so politicized that the gospel itself was overshadowed. I’ve been meeting with this pastor, long
The weekend worship service is most-often the tentpole of a church’s spiritual communion with its people. For those of us who’ve grown up in the church, and now serve as ministry leaders in it, the how of what we do in worship is a well-worn track. We know when to
Last night I went with my wife to an annual appreciation dinner for volunteers serving in Project Worthmore, an amazing non-profit outreach focusing on refugees and asylum-seekers in Denver. Bev has previously served as a classroom assistant and now, for the last year, an ESL teacher—helping the marginalized and poor
As a writer myself, I’ve long admired the work of The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson—over the last decade or so, I’ve quoted him often in my books. He’s an agnostic who is perpetually drawn to writing about faith, the church, and the state of religion in America. He bemoans the scandals
If you’ve ever been in need, then you already know that we often don’t know what we really need, or how to ask for help. When someone we care about is in need, we offer a default response: “Please let me know if you need anything.” And then, predictably, that
It’s the great cultural mystery of our time—how can so many, so often, so passionately name themselves “Christian” while adamantly supporting rhetoric and behavior that directly violates the teachings and example of Jesus? I subscribe to three daily news services that cater to Christian ministry leaders, and this perplexing dynamic
We’re nearing the finish line of our four-year research project “4-Soil Parenting,” and one of our primary takeaways is a truth we’ve heard project leaders and parents tell us over and over: Listening is a powerful catalyst for growth. In fact, during this week’s free ministry leadership webinar (“Who’s In
Prolific author and professor Dr. Leonard Sweet, my first academic crush, coined a phrase to describe what it means to live faithfully in a chaotic (and often apostate) culture—the double-ring. Put another way, when we embrace the double-ring, we follow Jesus as if our life depended on it, and we
Americans are gripped by anxiety and depression—it’s the silent epidemic that is not-so-silent. Just in the last decade, the number of people reporting depression symptoms is up by 60 percent. We see it in our congregation, on our ministry team, and under our own roof. It’s why, at the start
Today I met with the pastor of a small church that, for years, has been struggling to keep its head above water. He took over a dying church and a congregational culture that was, well, so politicized that the gospel itself was overshadowed. I’ve been meeting with this pastor, long
The weekend worship service is most-often the tentpole of a church’s spiritual communion with its people. For those of us who’ve grown up in the church, and now serve as ministry leaders in it, the how of what we do in worship is a well-worn track. We know when to
Last night I went with my wife to an annual appreciation dinner for volunteers serving in Project Worthmore, an amazing non-profit outreach focusing on refugees and asylum-seekers in Denver. Bev has previously served as a classroom assistant and now, for the last year, an ESL teacher—helping the marginalized and poor
As a writer myself, I’ve long admired the work of The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson—over the last decade or so, I’ve quoted him often in my books. He’s an agnostic who is perpetually drawn to writing about faith, the church, and the state of religion in America. He bemoans the scandals
If you’ve ever been in need, then you already know that we often don’t know what we really need, or how to ask for help. When someone we care about is in need, we offer a default response: “Please let me know if you need anything.” And then, predictably, that
It’s the great cultural mystery of our time—how can so many, so often, so passionately name themselves “Christian” while adamantly supporting rhetoric and behavior that directly violates the teachings and example of Jesus? I subscribe to three daily news services that cater to Christian ministry leaders, and this perplexing dynamic
We’re nearing the finish line of our four-year research project “4-Soil Parenting,” and one of our primary takeaways is a truth we’ve heard project leaders and parents tell us over and over: Listening is a powerful catalyst for growth. In fact, during this week’s free ministry leadership webinar (“Who’s In
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence Welcome to our post-election reality—the immersive division and polarization of our culture, our cities, and our neighborhoods continues. Already-strained relationships now have new news to swallow and wallow in. And all of us face new challenges as we follow Jesus into “love your
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence All relationships have seasons of tension—and sometimes discord and division. In church ministry and pastoring relational tension comes with the territory. Shepherding would be easy if the sheep behaved themselves and got along. But that’s not reality. And when tension or discord surfaces
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a shorthand way to spotlight our need for the advance of justice in our culture, and for our call to reconciling relationships. Many academic institutions, and many public/private organizations, now have DEI departments and executive-level officers. But,
We’re people created in the image of a triune God, and that means we’re fundamentally relational. That also means we’re in constant need of repair in our relationships—we hurt others, and they hurt us. So, how do we navigate when repair is needed in a relationship? In this Reachable Reconciliation
Summer moves at a different pace in our church communities. Some ministries are on hiatus and others are in maintenance mode. And while we may not intend to do so, this may include our hospitality ministries. As we look ahead to the fall, now is the time to consider what
Last month I had lunch with a ministry leader—I get to see her in-person only a couple of times a year, so it was so good catching up. We lost track of time; for almost four hours we talked about life, ministry, faith, and everything in-between. We were well into
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence We have so many micro-interactions with people throughout our day—co-workers, family members, random people on the street, service workers, and on and on… In all these relational connections we have the latent capacity for seeding redemption, grace, and even healing. For real. So
Recent research reveals that 40 million Americans who used to go to church no longer do… These are the “nones”—people who are disaffiliating, deconstructing, reconstructing, and de-churching. People who once included churchgoing as a normal part of life, but no longer do. For the first time, in the eight decades that Gallup
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence Some people are simply hard to “unlock.” Their body language, tone of voice, facial expression, and relational “posture” all converges into one simple message: Leave me alone. And, mostly, we oblige by leaving them alone. What we miss is an opportunity to connect across
