Refocus the Conversation: About “Attracting Families”

Age & Generations, Culture Frame, Ecology Frame, Families, Interviews, Program Evaluation, Religious Education/Socialization, Timeline Exercise

Is your congregation attempting to reach out to “young families?” Jan Edmiston works at the Presbytery of Chicago and has a personal blog at at achurchforstarvingartists.wordpress.org. Below is part of a 2015 post on the topic: Almost every church I’ve ever known has wanted to Attract Young Families.  The reasoning behind this includes the following: If we don’t…

St. Paul’s Congregation: A Historical Timeline

Archival Document Analysis, Clergy, Congregational Change, Culture Frame, Ecology Frame, History, Mainline & Liberal Protestant Churches, Neighborhoods & Contexts, Timeline Exercise

The Alley News is a very local newspaper, based in the Phillips Neighborhood in Minneapolis. In 2014, they published an account and explanation of St. Paul Lutheran Church’s “Notes of Growth and Change.” This looks a lot like the basic facts people would want to have about their particular churches for a congregational timeline. The…