Reflections & Research:
Pastoral Transitions
November 24, 2020
A merged congregation bonds over a project to honor the freed and enslaved Africans buried in its cemetery
The Rev. Dr. Wanda Lundy, pastor of Siloam Hope First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, walks in the church graveyard that inspired the 313 Project. Photos by Alexis Llewellyn A historic, predominantly Black congregation in New Jersey seeks to learn the names and stories of more than 300 unidentified souls buried in unmarked graves. […]
read moreabout A merged congregation bonds over a project to honor the freed and enslaved Africans buried in its cemeteryNovember 10, 2020
Frankly planning for roadblocks is an advantage for pastors
iStock / Sorbetto Church leaders can remain focused on their goals by anticipating challenges, naming them, and preparing for them, writes a managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity. This has been a year of roadblocks and challenges — one after another. And they just keep coming. Sometimes they pop up out of nowhere […]
read moreabout Frankly planning for roadblocks is an advantage for pastorsJuly 7, 2020
There’s a better way to manage pastoral transitions
iStock / PictRider What if we imagined pastoral transitions as a relay race, in which each leader passes the baton to the next? asks a Baptist pastor. On a cold winter day, I was talking on the phone with a colleague about the church where I serve as pastor. I was feeling frustrated. I told […]
read moreabout There’s a better way to manage pastoral transitionsApril 28, 2020
Do you need full-time clergy to be a vital congregation?
Don’t let the ingrained belief that only churches with full-time pastors can thrive keep you from making the switch to part-time clergy, writes an author who has researched the effects of part-time ministry.
read moreabout Do you need full-time clergy to be a vital congregation?