I love the picture Spirit of Christ Lutheran Church (St. Louis Park, MN) has come up with under the leadership of their new pastor, Amy Orstad, to describe its life and mission. I love the picture because it reminds us that church is supposed to prepare us to meet God the rest of the week. I love the picture because it reminds us that God is out in front of us, waiting for us to catch up to where God is already at work in the world. I love the picture because it invites a new generation of Christians and seekers to imagine church differently. I love the picture because it’s the “good kind of crazy” that invites all of us to think...

Today is Ascension Day. Truth be told, even though I did a podcast about preaching on Ascension Day two weeks ago, I almost forgot that. In fact, if I hadn’t called my parents today and heard them mention the Ascension Day retired pastors’ luncheon they’d gone to earlier, I’m pretty sure I would have forgotten about it all together. Ascension Day is one of the more overlooked holidays of the Christian calendar. It doesn’t fall on a Sunday; there are no disciplines of preparation ahead of time or rites of celebration on the day to usher it in. Fewer and fewer churches remember it, let alone hold Thursday services. It’s no...

…Then maybe it’s time to start Rethinking Evangelism! There’s an old joke that, while it names Lutherans, I suspect could be applied to most “mainline” Protestants and Roman Catholics: Q: What do you get when you cross a Lutheran with a Seventh Day Adventist?   A: Someone who goes door-to-door but has no idea what to say! There’s something both funny and just a little bit painful about that joke precisely because it’s true. Lutherans…and Presbyterians and Methodists and Episcopalians and Roman Catholics, as well…often are incredibly uncomfortable when we talk about evangelism largely because we assume that evangelism...

I realize that after my gaffe regarding the date of the start of the Conclave, I’m not exactly the expert on all things papal. (My apologies again to readers, and especially my Roman Catholic friends!) Nevertheless, now that the Conclave has begun, I thought I’d share one or two of the more interesting tidbits that I’ve come across, particularly with regard to the new name the next Pope will choose. I’ll start with a piece from Father James Martin, SJ, who is one of the leading authorities on American Catholicism. In a tongue-in-cheek piece, Father Martin offers the Cardinals twelve (pretty) good reasons he should be the next...

Cardinals from around the world go into conclave today in Rome to choose the next Pope, which means that starting this evening [sometime soon] we will receive reports about whether black smoke or white issues from the chimney of the Vatican. Curious about how all that works? Me too! So I tuned in for a typically informative and fast-paced four-minute guide from the good folks at Busted Halo to find out how the Roman Catholic church chooses it’s spiritual leader. I found it quite helpful and help you do too. Quick note: Misreading a news report late last week, I got the start of the papal conclave totally wrong, as several helpful...

A week ago I had the opportunity to gather with a group of folks who are working to provide resources to preachers. These are the people who put together websites, conferences, study materials, and more. At one point, we had a conversation about what we’ve all learned about what makes a good website. The comments were fascinating: It needs to be interactive. People want to be participants, not just an audience. People want to find resources that help them in their daily lives. Variety is everything. It can’t just be information, or resources, or entertainment, but a little bit of all. It’s about making connections – where people can...

With Lent just two weeks around the corner, I’m curious how your congregation is observing it. How does the sanctuary change? Are there different pieces of art? Different paraments? Do you have a sermon series or theme for the season? Do you prepare and/or use Lenten devotions. Do you have Wednesday services in Lent? A soup supper? How are these attended? And what about education? Is there a special adult or youth education emphasis for Lent? Do you have an adult forum series or book study? From the earliest time of the church, Lent has been a time for instruction in the faith. In fact, the season began as a time for those who wished to...

4. Look for Signs of Growth Another trait of adaptive leaders: they see the signs of renewal and invest there, in the people and endeavors that are working, even if they are unusual or unlikely. Here’s the thing: challenges, disappointments, and setbacks abound right now in the church. From declining attendance and giving to the recent Pew report about the rise of the “nones,” it’s not hard to find signs of our demise. But if you know where to look – or, actually, if you just keep your eyes open – you’ll also see signs of renewal. Sometimes they come in the most unlikely of people and places. A high school kid who’s a whiz...

3. The Risks and Rewards of Adaptive Change One of my definitions of good leadership is the ability to take advantage of crises. What do I mean by that? Simply that a good leader is always tending a vision of the future. A vision that is always a little larger than the present, always moving just a little beyond where we are now. The challenge however, is that as a species we tend to put a very high value on homeostasis. We greatly prefer, that is, stability to change. And for good reason: stability promotes growth. But that means we are often far more reactive than proactive, changing only when we have to. And that makes advancing a...

2. Challenging Cherished Practices Harvard Leadership Guru Ron Heifetz makes a critical distinction between technical and adaptive problems. In the former, we need to revise our way of doing something in a particular context; in the latter, we need to revise (or reinvent) our whole way of thinking about the context in which we are doing things. Again, Moneyball provides an excellent example. (If you haven’t seen the film or read the book, it may be helpful to refer to my earlier post to recap the story.) If the problem is that the A’s don’t have enough money to buy the best players they really only have one option if they want to win:...