Views from the Wide Open Spaces: Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders

Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders
This edition of Leading Ideas from the Leadership Institute has two articles worth reading for any church leader-clergy or lay. The first article, Planning for the Attendance Seasons in the Church Year, by Lovet H. Weems, Jr. talks about how the Seasons naturally create opportunties for welcoming new people--but you have to work at it!
The second article, by Dr. Robert Crossman, discusses several ways to foster greater attendance among current church members. The complete version is published as a free-download at http://www.churchleadership.com/pdfs/50_Ways_to_Increase_Worship_attendance.pdf

To subscribe to the Lewis Center’s free biweekly online newsletter, Leading Ideas, go to

http://www.churchleadership.com/.

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Weblinks for 'Missional Leaders" Blog, October 16, 2009

1) the website of Roxburgh http://www.roxburghmissionalnet.com/
2) the merger proposal
3)the yellowstone conference website http://www.yacumc.org/
4)the rethink church example http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/46468972.html?elr=KArks:DCiUo3PD:3D_V_qD3L:c7cQKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
5) articles about missional leadership http://allelon.org/
6) cool powerpoint about missional leadership, some concepts from Roxburgh et al. http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesley_conferences/2008/powerpoints/missional%20leadership.ppt#286,26,Leading….
7)Fresh Expressions website of the Anglican and Methodist movement in the UK. The Fresh Expressions movement has shown that denominations declared dead by the gurus become the very places of God’s holy mischief. --quote from Roxburgh's blog 10-16-09

Top Ten Take-Home Ideas--August 1, 2009

In addition to UMC Hymnal and The Faith We Sing, try out these resources:
1) Upper Room Worship Book
2) More Voices (United Church of Canada)
3) For Everyone Born: Global Songs for an Emerging Church.”(global music by Global Ministries,http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=4902 )
4) Abbingdon collections of new song writers
5) New Tunes to Familiar Wesleyan texts (e.g. Wesley hymn, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” can be transformed with a new tune by Mark Miller. The collection that contains this new tune is http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=446535 It is a great to introduce new people new to United Methodism to Wesleyan history and theology.)
6) http://www.pagecxvi.com/ for new takes on old music
7) music videos with powerful messages of Jesus's teachings on social justice and faithful response by http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/
8)Lead into worship with more music videos by http://www.byplayingforchange.com/ (like "Let's Get Together") can be downloaded off I-tunes for $1.49.
9) http://www.entertheworshipcircle.com/
10) to take care of most copyrights (CCLI, GIA, etc) go to http://www.onelicense.com/

Top Ten Take-Homes 7/29/09

1) new churches are one of the most effective means of reaching new populations.
2) new churches respond more effectively to population growth than an existing church.
3)new church starts are critical to denominational growth.
4)new church starts survival rate is 70%, and 80% in new starts that reach point of setting up GCFA ID number.
5)start churches with the expectation that they will become mid-sized (125+ members) or large (500+) members.
6)start churches with the goal that they will average 500 or more in worship.
7) target areas should be selected with great care, recognizing that population growth is an important, but not the only, factor to consider.
8) an increase in clergy under 35 is essential for new curch development success.
9)the UMC has sufficient resources today to fund new church starts, but the assets are in existing congregations.
10) Elijah churches (declining existing churches) can leverage their assets to fund new churches by: revisioning their ministry, relocate, merge, provide their building for a parallel ministry, close with facilities or funds used by new congregation.
These top 10 take homes are quotes or paraphrases from findings by Donald R. House and Lovett H. Weems, Lewis Center for Church Leadership, Wesley Theological Seminary; www.churchleadership.com

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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders

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