by Matt Cook | Feb 22, 2021 | healthy congregation, hope, Transitions
In the 1950’s a somewhat morbid experiment was conducted by a professor at Johns Hopkins University named Curt Richter. He put wild rats in a container of water and forced them to swim as long as they could before drowning. Most of the rats swam for only a few...
by Paul Grier | Dec 21, 2020 | change, Legacy, Transitions
When we hear the words “legacy” and “congregation” in the same sentence, most of us think of a devoted church member leaving a bequest in her will to her faith community. Yet, in the last eight years, I have worked with hundreds of congregations that have questioned...
by Jim Kitchens | Dec 21, 2020 | hope, Legacy, Transitions
Most of us have read the statistics about how many churches are likely to close over the next 3-5 years. Although the various studies come up with different totals, all of the figures are staggering. To make matters worse, it’s already clear that the hit many of our...
by Joel Snider | Dec 21, 2020 | hope, Legacy, Transitions
First Christian Church of Rome, Georgia (Disciples of Christ), was a great partner in ministry with the church I pastored for twenty-one years. Our congregations shared common commitments to feed the hungry and care for the poor in our community. For more than a...
by Bill Wilson | Oct 5, 2020 | pastor search process, Transitions
What would you say is the best gift a Transitional Pastor can give a congregation? Most traditional interim training programs land heavily on the idea that the primary task of a church in transition is dealing with grief. Thus, much of the work of a traditional...
by David Hull | Oct 3, 2020 | pastor search process, Transitions
There is a well-known saying that applies to any kind of organization involved in charitable giving. It is simply “Money follows mission.” You may have heard it before. People are inspired to give to a compelling mission and vision in an organization rather than just...
