The gospel of John has just 21 chapters, and five of them (one-quarter of the narrative) are dedicated to Jesus’ last words to His close friends before the horror-story of the cross. This was no pep talk. In fact, what we now call “Holy Week” was a disorienting, disturbing, isolating,
A quarter-century ago I worked with family ministry pioneer Ben Freudenburg on his groundbreaking book The Family-Friendly Church. Together, we took a deep dive into Ben’s journey from conventional youth ministry to “home-centered, church-supported” strategies. Ben had struggled through a long season of ministry burnout, made worse by his disillusionment
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 gospel of John has just 21 chapters, and five of them (one-quarter of the narrative) are dedicated to Jesus’ last words to His close friends before the horror-story of the cross. This was no pep talk. In fact, what we now call “Holy Week” was a disorienting, disturbing, isolating,
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’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
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
(EDITOR’S NOTE: At Vibrant Faith we’ve partnered with our team of ministry leadership coaches to name the obstacles and challenges the church has put in the way of a FAMILYING approach to the formation of faith. Check out a previous blog that sets the stage for this conversation with Obstacle
Ministry leaders generally agree that parents matter most for the formation of faith in their children, but nevertheless have multiple long-standing objections to this notion. These objections most often show up in the way leaders resist shifting their faith-forming paradigm from the church to the home. And, unconsciously, these objections
In our research work with churches across the country, we’ve “discovered” an obvious truth all over again—listening to people is a crucial spiritual discipline. In our Fourth-Soil Parenting Project, an expedition into fueling parent’s spiritual impact in their kids’ lives, we asked our 20 participating churches to launch this
How is the mission of the church, first handed to us by Jesus, defining and shaping our ministries? For example, the people who are showing up shape our missional focus—but what about the people who are not showing up? The absence of certain people, and the reasons behind their absence,
The world has a dwindling natural resource that’s been overlooked—it’s the skill of appreciation. You’ve probably noticed the difference in yourself when you’re around a leader who habitually appreciates the “wins” on your team, not merely camps on the “fixes.” New York Times columnist David Brooks, author of How to Know
f the culture we live in is the pond we swim in, some of the streams feeding into our pond carry toxins that pollute the water. These are relational toxins like betrayal, broken trust, wrong assumptions, and embedded lies. Sometimes these toxins are undetectable until we feel the impact of
A kind of sacred joy has always accompanied my celebration of Advent. But this year, as I prepared for our Advent journey, I carried a heavy weight in my soul. So much in the world is unsettled and disturbing. The war in Ukraine and now in Gaza marks, again, the
Business executives from around the world pay big bucks to attend seminars on “the Disney Way”—learning how leaders at this much-admired company build their culture, leverage business success, and treat their employees and guests. For a long time, the tech company Hewlett Packard has been known for its egalitarian, decentralized
Business executives from around the world pay big bucks to attend seminars on “the Disney Way”—learning how leaders at this much-admired company build their culture, leverage business success, and treat their employees and guests. For a long time, the tech company Hewlett Packard has been known for its egalitarian, decentralized
(EDITOR’S NOTE: At Vibrant Faith we’ve partnered with our team of ministry leadership coaches to name the obstacles and challenges the church has put in the way of a FAMILYING approach to the formation of faith. Check out a previous blog that sets the stage for this conversation with Obstacle
View Post Are you like most ministry leaders—struggling with a tendency to say “yes” to everything? Yes to helping someone on our “off” hours (whatever that means), yes to helping out in another volunteer role, yes to an additional responsibilities, yes to another project? Our plate is often so full
