Committing to Your Community for the Long Term

From Sparkhouse blogger Nick Tangen

Finding a Path out of Loneliness - By Mary Kay DuChene 

What if faith communities could be the center of turning around the epidemic of loneliness in the country?

From the Age of Association to Authenticity

What the End of the Age of Association Means for the Church 

by Dwight Zscheile | August 11, 2021

See also the Living Lutheran Magazine study guide to the related article, They May Not Come Back

By Rev. Dr. Anna Hall

Reimagining Church Buildings

By Dave Harder 

How can your church building be an asset rather than a liability? Dave Harder says we must interrogate the dominant narrative that says church is what happens in the building for a few hours on a Sunday and let a new narrative emerge — one that focuses on God’s hopes and dreams for the neighborhood.

What Now?

Tools for Engaging the Post-Covid Church is a suite of practical resources created for pastors as they navigate the impacts and realities of COVID19. Sign up here.

Episode 82: What Can Churches and Businesses Learn from Each Other? featuring Randy Casey-Rutland

Do You View Your Church as an Organization or a Movement?

Do You Need a Mission Statement for Your Post-Pandemic Transition Plan?

As congregations plan for a future with fewer pandemic-related restrictions, Lovett H. Weems Jr. says they need a standard for assessing various options. Without a clear connection to your primary mission your transition plan could easily be hijacked by those pushing hardest for their point of view or what neighboring churches are doing.

How to Stay Focused on Your Mission

Barry Winders says having a mission statement isn’t enough to keep your church focused and fruitful. Churches need to develop a mission filter — a question or statement designed to evaluate decisions and activities to determine their alignment with the mission.

10 Paradigm Shifts for Mission Renewal

When Is the Right Time for Strategic Planning?

Confronting 3 Crises: Pandemic, Racial Reckoning, and Political Violence

The Myth of the One Big Idea

Scott Cormode explains how change efforts often fail because we risk everything on one big idea. Innovation flourishes within systems that generate lots of ideas. And a leader’s task is to plant and water the seeds of change to see which take root and grow.

To the Point: Unclutter Your Church: What needs to die in your church?

 Agile Church: Committed to the Future Success of Mainline Churches

Agile Church was founded to help church leaders and congregations navigate the tidal wave of change affecting growth and threatening the survival of mainline churches. Agile Church is a proven system that combines decades of church leadership experience; a diverse range of consulting services; innovative technology; and a library of proven resources into a single church growth system.

Organizing Church

In this Exchanges training, explore what the church can learn about itself and about its mission through broad-based community organizing.

Strong church institutions depend upon a strong relational fabric grounded in sacred values, because relationships that are grounded in values are more able to withstand change and conflict. Broad-based organizing provides a unique way of building strong relationships grounded in values we hold most dear. The relationship between broad-based organizing and the church is reciprocal and mutually beneficial.

The Faith+Lead Learning Lab is a place to listen, learn, innovate, and grow. Join other spiritual leaders in grappling with real-world challenges and discoveries of ministry in the 21st Century.

The ELCA's Growing Younger page includes stories, resources, and tools to assist you and your congregation in connecting with new people so that our world may experience the difference God’s grace and love in Christ makes for all people and creation; including:

Download The 6 Core Commitments of Churches Growing Younger pdf here.

Register for the ELCA Growing Younger Train the Trainer Event here.

Engaging Local Schools is a toolkit to help congregations discern how best to support and engage local schools, utilizing videos, presentations, and supplemental materials.

Thriving Beyond COVID is a scripture-based small and large group study that will encourage, inspire, and challenge members and get them in a positive frame of mind for your post-COVID journey. Challenges can be managed with faith and a plan. This two-minute video is an introduction. A leader guide, small and large group participant guides, as well as videos are available for free download here.

Vital congregations are increasingly committed to serving others through mission. And congregations are asking whether their good intentions always yield good results. Through engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials, Doing Good Well explores the fruitfulness of mission efforts and provides practical strategies to help ensure your mission hits the mark.

Doing Good Well is ecumenical and designed for both self study and for use with groups in your church.

Be sure you are gathering the right kind of information. In this assessment, you will:

• Discover the larger impact that you are making in your community through your service and outreach;

• Uncover areas for further development of your ministries and programs;

• Understand what makes you unique in your community;

• Deep-dive into the financial goals and strategies for your congregation’s present and future;

• Gain clarity about your “next best step” as your church engages in its life together.

Learn more.