So many of us are asking so many questions right now about where we are. These questions are about our churches, but they’re also about our society as a whole. We have this growing sense that the ground has shifted beneath our feet. We don’t know where we are anymore. Ways of life and leading … Read More
Leadership
The Soil of Community
Somehow, somewhere, we seem to have lost our sense of belonging and connectedness. But this overarching sense of loss of community isn’t the only story. The Spirit of Jesus is at work in our neighbourhoods fermenting a new kind of community in all kinds of unexpected places. Our experiences of isolation are, in part, shaped … Read More
The Gospel and Identity
A Christian framing of identity begins with the confession that our identity, as a group or community, is formed and rooted in Jesus Christ. Thus, the shaping of identity in congregations in the midst of this great unraveling begins with the regular confession of who we are in God through Christ. This is why a … Read More
Learning from the 72
There is no “code to 21st Century Ministry” but there are practices rooted in our great tradition. The leaders we need contribute to forming a people who embrace the story of God’s agency and the Spirit’s re-weaving in the places where they live amidst the great unraveling. This has been as true for the 5th … Read More
Leading Forward
Over these past months we’ve been travelling through strange landscapes with little time to stop to see where we were. What pundits predicted six, or even three months ago now seems hopelessly naive. We’re tired. Too often we feel confused around how to lead institutions that once worked but now seem unable to adapt to … Read More
Vocation and Faithful Imagination
Previous articles described the place where we find ourselves as leaders in terms of grief and trauma and proposed a basis of hope. Beyond technique and method Christian hope begins with the conviction that this is God’s creation. God is making all things new, reweaving a torn and shattered creation. This narrative of hope is about … Read More
Hope Amidst Trauma
Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible. – N.T. Wright …faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. – Hebrews 11.1 In the short article, The Mood of Our Moment: Grief and Trauma I sought to describe what is … Read More
The Mood of our Moment: Grief and Trauma
What is going on? Over the past six months of listening to church leaders we’ve been asking questions like: What’s the mood among leaders just now? What do they need? How can we assist them? We’re learning some things in this unraveling of our time: We can’t assume we know where leaders are at and … Read More
Reflect Together on Your Experiences
There is an inkling among many of us that there is much to be learned from the past number of months. Some of these lessons are wide and broad in scope. Others are very grounded, immediate and personal. Considering the past few months in retrospect will give us some good clues to finding a way … Read More
Focus on the Work of your People
Time spent limited to our own homes and immediate neighbourhoods has had a profound impact on everyone. Those who struggle with loneliness can’t wait to be able to gather with others again. Those who have challenging family relationships have been pushed to the brink, and in some cases, beyond. There are other situations where new … Read More