Beyond the Ordinary

New Resource Available – Leader Guide for Leadership That Fits Your Church

Church leaders can now access a new resource that will help them involve their members in new conversations about finding the best leadership for their congregation’s ministries. J. Brent Bill, who currently serves as the Project Director for the New Meetings Project of Friends General Conference in Philadelphia, PA, authored the guide. For many years he was the executive vice president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations. A Quaker minister, Brent has also served as a pastor in three congregations. He is a writer, retreat leader, and congregational consultant.

The guide will help your congregation to:

• process the information contained in Leadership That Fits Your Church:

What Kind of Pastor for What Kind of Congregation in a way that is useful for your setting;

• gain new insights into pastor-congregation dynamics;
• understand where some tweaks might be needed to improve or fix issues in this crucial relationship between the pastor and the congregation;
• assist pastoral search or clergy relations committees; and
• learn to care for each other in fresh ways.

The material in the study guide is

• organized into six, ninety-minute sessions; it can also be adapted for use at a leadership retreat; and
• filled with interactive exercises and discussion questions for small groups.

You can download the Leader Guide for Leadership That Fits Your Church on our project website:

http://uscongregations.org/

http://uscongregations.org/pdf/Leadership-That-Fits-Your-Church-Leader-Guide.pdf

Any questions? Call 800-728-7228 ext. 2040; or email us at [email protected]

 

Do Pray Tell

By Ida Smith-Williams

A nightly ritual in our house is saying a bedtime prayer with my young daughter.  It’s been a learning experience for both of us!  Her list of who and what she wants to pray for gets longer and longer each night.  I think sometimes she gets God and Santa Claus confused!  We’ve removed inanimate objects from the prayer list (such as her stuffed animals), so we’re making progress.  I do think she is learning compassion as she prays for family members, friends, and teachers.

How often do worshipers pray?  Nearly seven out of ten worshipers spend time praying on their own on a daily basis (68%).  This has stayed steady since 2001. 

What do worshipers pray for?  Like my daughter, three-quarters of worshipers pray daily for themselves or their family members (74%).  Fewer than three in ten (29%) of worshipers prayed daily for world peace or an end to war, and one-quarter (26%) pray daily for an end to world hunger or poverty.

Do national and international events influence prayer?  When asked if they prayed more often than previously because of national or world events in the previous five years, three-quarters of worshipers said they did to some extent (75%).  Few (17%) increased their prayer a great deal.   

Do prayers make a difference?  Three out of five worshipers think prayers make a difference regardless of events (62%).  When asked “because of national or world events in the past five years, to what extent have you doubted whether your prayers made a difference?” only one in ten had much doubt about the effectiveness of their prayers (9%).

How is your prayer life?  Do, pray tell your story. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

 

How to Find Leadership that Fits Your Church: Buy the book!

by Cynthia Woolever

Most church members report a high level of satisfaction with their church’s current leadership. In fact, only a very small number—3%—stated that they believed their pastor and congregation are not a match. That’s encouraging news for churches facing one of the most daunting decisions a congregation can make: finding the right pastor. In Leadership that Fits Your Church: What Kind of Pastor for What Kind of Congregation (Chalice Press, $19.99 paper, November 2012), Deborah Bruce and I (coauthors) offer insights into making a successful match.

The book is based on findings from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey (USCLS). The survey, funded by grants from Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the Louisville Institute, records the views of more than half a million people who regularly participate in worship. In addition, one key pastoral leader in each church responded to a survey about their ministry tasks, job satisfaction, sources of support and stress, compensation, and theological education.

The scope of the USCLS allows for a comprehensive portrait of pastoral leadership, drawing upon a large representative national sample of pastoral leaders, congregations, and parishes; a broad range of denominations and faith groups; the experiences of pastors in congregations of all sizes; and the opinions of both pastoral leaders and worshipers in the same congregations. This book presents a 360-degree data driven view of all that is involved in congregational vitality: the values, commitments, experiences, and perceptions of members, lay leaders, and pastors.

Leadership in the congregational context is particularly complex and difficult. Yet most pastors who participated in the study reported that they are enthusiastic about their ministry and feel they’ve accomplished a lot. High ministry satisfaction can be a buffer against the high stress levels that accompany pastoral work, and can prevent burnout.

We show how a strong match might be made between pastor and congregation. Then, we follow the pastoral transition experiences of three churches: mainline Protestant, Catholic, and conservative Protestant. The book outlines pastor and church types, and then we dig more deeply into the dynamics that yield a successful match.

We highlight several implications for pastors, lay leaders and other members of the congregation, including the importance of:

• Learning from the past by reflecting on the ministry of previous pastors.
• Allowing unstated assumptions to surface.
• Clarity about financial responsibilities.
• Recognizing how conflict damages congregations and pastors.
• Providing ongoing clergy support.
• Identifying and building on strengths.
• Seeking to understand and articulate what God is calling that particular church to be.

Leadership That Fits Your Church is the latest volume in The Columbia Partnership (TCP) Leadership Series.

How can you get your hands on this great new book? Available in Kindle form or hard copy at ChalicePress.com (or call 1-800-366-3383). You can even save 30% off all TCP books, including this one, with the code TCP2012 (offer expires on November 30, 2012).

 

Are you planning to vote?

(Adapted from the 10/27/10 post by Deborah Bruce)

On the day of the presidential election, let’s look at the intersection of faith and politics.  The U.S. Congregational Life Survey asked several questions that reveal how worshipers, pastors, and congregations are involved in the political sphere.

Worshipers vote.  Eight in ten worshipers (83%) reported voting in the last presidential election.  In contrast, only about six in ten eligible Americans (62%) voted for president in 2008.  (Read more about this difference.)

Voting is particularly common among worshipers attending mainline Protestant churches—nine in ten worshipers in mainline churches (89%) voted in 2008.  Eight in ten worshipers in conservative Protestant churches (83%) and in Catholic parishes (78%) voted that year.

Worshipers donate.  Far fewer worshipers (16%) said they contributed money to a political party or candidate running for office during the 2008 campaign.  More mainline Protestant worshipers (23%) than conservative Protestant (11%) or Catholic worshipers (12%) made political contributions in 2008.

Pastors vote.  More pastors than worshipers voted in 2008.  Nine in ten pastors of congregations participating in the U.S. Congregational Life Survey voted (Catholics, 94%; mainline Protestants, 96%; conservative Protestants, 97%). 

Pastors donate.  Pastors contributed to political parties or candidates slightly more often than worshipers (Catholics, 14%; mainline Protestants, 33%; conservative Protestants, 18%).

Congregations inform their worshipers.  Four in ten congregations (38%) informed people during worship services about opportunities to register to vote.  Half of Catholic parishes did so (54%).  Fewer conservative Protestant (43%) or mainline Protestant (30%) churches let their worshipers know about voter registration.

Two in ten congregations held voter registration drives or voter education events in their facilities during the 2008 campaign.  More Catholic parishes (44%) than conservative Protestant (24%) or mainline Protestant (13%) churches did so.

This year’s election.  We didn’t ask if congregations reminded worshipers to vote.  We hope your congregation will encourage everyone to get to the polls today.  And as for you—Please vote!