More and more congregations within the United States are declining, and with that decline come church closures. In my dissertation research, I examined two small congregations. Fellowship United Methodist Church (which is a pseudonym, along with all other names used in this post) is a small congregation in a Midwestern city. As of 2010, there…
Leadership matters. More specifically, pastoral leadership matters. In every setting of congregational life, talk of leadership abounds. In the United Church of Christ, the vision plan of the national setting includes the goal of having “a wealth of prepared, excellent leaders that reflect the diversity of God’s beloved community.” But what kind of leadership matters? Too…
David Gibson at the Religion News Service describes the changing roles of Catholic priests in the parish. He outlines the role priests must take in a parish’s finances, human resources, facilities, and security. He writes, Once upon a time, the parish staff usually consisted of a janitor and a parish secretary, maybe a volunteer, while a…
LifeGARDEN, a mission of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove, MN, is a labor of love of member and Associate in Ministry – Director of Worship, Alice Woodard. She explains, I first started thinking about the possibility of a community garden while attending a worship conference at St. Olaf in 2005 called “For…
The University of Minnesota is working on a project focused on data on congregations of settlers in and around the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The researchers Marilyn J. Chiat, Ph.D. and Jeanne Halgren Kilde, Ph.D., have created a unique resource for those interested in the history of neighborhoods and the congregations that inhabited…