Thriving Congregations. Part 1: Challenges to Becoming and Sustaining A Thriving Congregation
February 1, 2021
Leave a CommentDr. G. & Friends
Thriving Congregations. Part 1: Challenges to Becoming and Sustaining A Thriving Congregation
NOTE: Columbia seminary’s Center for Lifelong Learning has launched its Lilly-funded Thriving Congregations program, “reKindle: A Congregational Development Initiative.” Selected congregations will be awarded grants of up to $15,000 to execute a thriving congregation initiative in their ministry context. Applications...
+ Read MoreA Sense of Wonder
Along the Journey
A Sense of Wonder
Winters where I live, along the rugged coast of Maine, are a test of character.
The snows make their first appearance in November and remain a regular if occasional presence through May.
When the first real blizzard comes, it drops...
+ Read MoreMinistry is a team sport: Advice from a ministry veteran
Dr. G. & Friends
Ministry is a team sport: Advice from a ministry veteran
Some time ago a pastor I know shared her thoughts about ministry with the seminarians in one of my courses.
Here are her thoughts about “Growing Into Ministry: Nine Tips I Have Learned”.
1. Find a mentor
Many people...
+ Read MoreHow to say you’re sorry
Along the Journey
How to say you’re sorry
Here’s an important lesson I learned from one of my teachers, Dave Ellis: how to apologize.
(He’s the author of one of my favorite books, Falling Awake: Creating the Life of Your Dreams) Dave said when you have to apologize,...
+ Read MoreYoung Black Clergy and Community
Along the Journey
Young Black Clergy and Community
“God is never in a state of inertia.”
I’ve found that those seasoned by the salt of fruitful testimony regularly toss around these kinds of sage gems.
Prone to selective amnesia and idolatrous meandering as we are, these declarations are...
+ Read MoreHow you know you’ve had an effective learning experience
Dr. G. & Friends
How you know you’ve had an effective learning experience
I remember when I had the opportunity to attend several lifelong learning events some time ago.
They were refreshing in the sense that I got to be a participant, and sometimes, a spectator.
My family teased me about going to...
+ Read Morerekindle interview: “My hope is that congregations receive encouragement, rest, hope, courage, and collegial wisdom”
Along the Journey
rekindle interview: “My hope is that congregations receive encouragement, rest, hope, courage, and collegial wisdom”
Columbia Theological Seminary recently received a grant of $969,528 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the “reKindle: Congregational Development in a Post COVID-19 Era” program through its Center for Lifelong Learning.
The reKindle Impact Grant will help realize the goal of the Thriving...
+ Read MoreAugustine of Hippo and Six educational principles
Dr. G. & Friends
Augustine of Hippo and Six educational principles
Augustine of Hippo was one of the foremost philosophers and theologians of early Christianity.
He had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Western thought and culture and, more than any other person, shaped the themes and defined the...
+ Read More“Let’s Pretend That Didn’t Happen”
Along the Journey
“Let’s Pretend That Didn’t Happen”
After a disturbing event in a church I was serving a while back, the elders were discussing how to respond. One elder – a distinguished older man – said this:
Let’s just pretend like it didn’t happen.
Some...
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