Last fall, at a gathering of ministry leaders who are all part of a Lilly Endowment grant program called “Christian Parenting and Caregiving,” I went to a workshop led by Craig Gould, the program director at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. His workshop
Our Vibrant Faith team just returned from our first in-person retreat of the year, where (among other things) we focused on the foundation of our calling as a church-serving organization. To do that, we revisited the priorities and passions of Dr. Merton Strommen, the ground-breaking academic who founded Search Institute
I met Dr. Scott Thumma years ago, at a Future of the Church gathering when I served on the executive leadership team at Group Publishing. He was then, and still is today, professor of sociology of religion at Connecticut’s Hartford International University, and co-director of the Hartford Institute for Religion
Early in her career, sociologist and author Brene Brown was on a mission to deconstruct the “secret sauce” of connectivity. “By the time you’re a social worker for 10 years,” she says, “what you realize is that connection is why we’re here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our
Parents, even in ever-decreasing numbers, are the lifeblood of the church. Their children help us keep our standard programs running yet one more year. And they represent our primary volunteer pool for so many church activities. A church without an “inlet” of new families is, by definition, stagnating. So, on
Over the last two decades writers have churned out millions of words, maybe billions of words, mapping the sobering decline of the church in America. I’m certainly responsible for tens of thousands of those words, first as editor of GROUP Magazine for more than 30 years, and now as blogger-in-chief
Antwuan Malone is a young-adult pastor and the founder and Executive Director of ELEVATE.YA. In an insightful piece posted on the ministry news service Faith On View, Malone explores the underlying reasons young adults have abandoned the church, and offers insightful onramps for reaching them, then inviting them back into
The diminishing ministry skill that is most threatened in church culture is, simply, listening… I just named it a simple skill, but that doesn’t mean the effective, transformational practice of listening is what people generally think it is. Transformational listening is not a passive pursuit, like a catcher waiting for
A long time ago, I decided to live my life with Jesus by jumping into mud puddles instead of over them. A mud puddle, in my own strange vernacular, is anything Jesus said or did that we typically ignore, avoid, struggle to understand, or forget. The story of the Canaanite
I’ve been leading deep-growth experiences for groups—from a few people to thousands—for more than two decades now. I’ve learned that when we are leading people in a ministry environment, we’re less like technicians and more like artists. That’s because our chosen “medium” is people, and our art form is relational.
As ministry leaders our primary influence is stored-up in the treasure-house of our presence. Just as the presence of God in our life transforms us, our presence in the lives of those we serve has a kind of “radioactive” impact. We radiate the treasures of our soul when we interact
In his famous TED talk, author and former ad man Simon Sinek argues that the genius of successful companies is that they start with why. Unlike most of us, who try to win a hearing by explaining what our organization does, world-class innovators like Steve Jobs start with the purpose
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
I’ve heard a crazy rumor for years… Legend has it that church ministry slows down to a sabbath-y pace in the summer. My husband and I have been part of a handful of churches, in both volunteer and paid-staff roles. In all that time, we’ve experienced the alleged slow-down with just
I’m walking closely alongside two sets of parents who are raising young children in this world. I’m constantly struck by how different the shape of their lives is from what mine was when I was in that season of life. First of all, I’m just amazed by how much equipment
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
Last weekend I was driving around town ticking off my to-do list and listening to an episode of This American Life, the much-acclaimed public-radio storytelling show hosted by Ira Glass. I catch the show mid-stream as Boen Wang, a 20-something Asian-American man describes the impact of his early life growing
Summer is the sound of crackling campfire, the smell of a fresh-cut lawn, the taste of fresh watermelon, and the feel of a frisbee caught in a park—all under a sunny blue sky. It’s the perfect time for families to go all-in on engaging each other, and the perfect time
What’s it like for parents to raise children today, especially if a growing relationship with God is important to them? And what can ministry leaders do to help? These are the two questions we’re trying to help the ministry leaders explore in our 4th–Soil ParentingProject, supported by the Lilly Endowment. We’re asking
I’m walking closely alongside two sets of parents who are raising young children in this world. I’m constantly struck by how different the shape of their lives is from what mine was when I was in that season of life. First of all, I’m just amazed by how much equipment
What do we actually know about what’s going on inside the faith-life of the parents in our churches today? On some level, they’re longing to raise their children to know and love Jesus, but how is that going for them? Vibrant Faith has been asking these questions in a variety
In 1997, Lutheran pastor Dr. Merton Strommen and his wife Irene founded The Youth & Family Institute in memory of their son David, a young seminarian and youth worker who was killed by lightning while leading a youth trip in the Colorado mountains. The name of the Institute was
In Vibrant Faith’s ongoing Fourth-Soil Parenting Project, we coach church ministry leaders to: Honor (uphold) parents as the primary faith-forming agents in the lives of their children. Experiment with new ways to support and encourage parents to live out and talk about their faith in Jesus in daily life.
Parenting tips, strategies, and philosophies are well-resourced in our culture—through books, seminars, social media, and online resources. And in the contemporary church we’ve always been focused on the needs, developmental pathways, and spiritual formation of children. But, in many ways, we are just waking up to the needs, developmental
The old saying goes: “The church is always one generation away from extinction.” Typically, we use that sort of “fear leverage” to double-down on attractional ministries for children and youth. I’ve heard ministry leaders use the “one generation” mantra to argue for the importance of church/parachurch-based ministries. But I’ve never
I know, “program-ification” is not a real word. One of our Vibrant Faith Coaches, the Rev. Erik Samuelson, made that up. On our team, we all like it. And we know that you know what we mean when we say it. We’re curious—has Christian faith formation been mixed up with
When we gather with other ministry leaders, the conversations inevitably gravitate toward a common complaint—we disapprove of the way most parents allocate their time as a family. We’re frustrated by what parents prioritize over attendance at church or church programing. With our 4th-Soil Parenting Project, Vibrant Faith is helping
At a conference this month I heard John Bucher talk about our intrinsic love of stories. He described how our love affair with story goes deeper than we think. We are created from stories; we’re formed by them. We need stories to mirror back our reality—parables, fables, songwriting, novels,
We all know: “You can’t draw water from an empty well.” And ministry is a water-depleting adventure, in the best sense of that metaphor. We give out of our “good treasure” to others. And we need a significant “inlet” for our spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing if we’re going
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence All our relationships have one thing in common—broken people are involved, so broken things happen. That means reconciliation is a baked-in need, embedded in all aspects of our everyday life. When things go wrong we go into crisis management—the same way we respond
In our post-Easter journey we have fresh memories of new faces, drawn to the church through the magnet of Holy Week. I just met a new young couple in our community. They sought me out because they want to pursue membership and needed additional information. Before the service was
By Fred Oduyoye and Rick Lawrence Got a difficult person in your life? It’s hard to imagine you don’t—either at home or at work or at church… Unreconciled relationships with people who bring “thorn in the side” impact into our life can exhaust our energy and derail our good work.
I’m telling this story backwards. Stay with me… I’m moving. Again. People who know me are laughing. When we bought our condo three years ago I declared: “This is it, we’re home. I’m never moving again.” Now this will be the sixth time my husband and I have moved
With church partners in our Fourth-Soil Parenting Project, we’re experimenting with new ways to plant and nurture a story-sharing environment in congregations. Why? Because discipleship and faith formation are profoundly hindered when people have not yet explored, acknowledged, and witnessed to their own story. As more people in your
If you’ve been involved in ministry leadership for more than a year (and that includes almost all of us), you know that weekly worship-service planning can devolve into a mundane, lifeless routine. The struggle is real—I’ve been there for the past four decades. So let’s break free from the shackles
“For more information, please check the bulletin…” How many times have you heard that instruction at church? More important, how many people never hear it, or are tone-deaf to it? Church Communication should move from impersonal to personal Many churches still rely on traditional bulletins and emails to communicate to
