Barnabas File

Early in the history of the Christian church, believers were divided into two groups--the clergy and the laity.  Clergy were those called to a full-time Christian vocation.  Laity were the men and women who pursued secular vocations and supported the ministry of the clergy. Of course, these categories were not always hard and fast.  The Baptist movement in frontier America prospered through people who pursued a secular job (like farming) during the week and preached on Sundays. Denominations have spent significant energy in differentiating between clergy and laity, and investing significant resources in the training of the former.  With declining resources and membership, however, judicatories are adopting flexible models of ministry that take advantage of the gifts of both biprofessional and lay leaders.  This certainly makes sense as many lay church members have not only spiritual gifts to serve but educational and professional skills as well. At ...

Every church traditionally has some type of small group experience--Sunday School classes, study groups, mission groups, and others.   Today, small group experiences may be more important than ever.   In a recent article, Thom Rainer identified eight major changes in churches over the last decade. One of these was the vital importance of groups in the church. According to Rainer’s research, ten years ago churches had groups but they were of marginal importance.  Leaders “did not see how groups could enhance the health of the church in discipleship, evangelism, prayer, ministry, and fellowship.” On the other hand, he observes, “Healthy churches today make groups (community groups, home groups, Sunday school, life groups, etc.) a high priority.” We can identify several reasons why this is true. First, most people have a desire to connect.  Although we have become a society immersed in social media, most of us have few deep connecti...

A friend and I have an ongoing discussion about millennials and their role in church leadership.   As a group, millennials are parodied , maligned, and caricatured as entitled, self-centered, and clueless.   The truth is more complex.   The millennial generation (ages approximately 23 to 30) are in our organizations now.   Leaders have a choice.   They can work with millennials, harness their potential, and equip them for the future or they can miss an opportunity for organizational innovation and growth. In a Leadership Network article , Eric Swanson pointed out, “Millennials don’t want to work for you; they want to work with you.”  The millennial mindset is that of the journeyman worker--here today and gone tomorrow.  In many ways, this is understandable.  They have watched their parents and older siblings lose their jobs even when they have been with organizations for years and have done good work.  So how does a ...

Our local news outlets have recently reported that some schools--private and public--have failed to report abusive situations involving students.   Several reasons have been cited by officials for their actions, but these indicate that they failed to protect vulnerable individuals under their supervision. We have seen this before in churches, schools, and not-for-profit agencies.  Institutions can quickly become more concerned about protecting themselves than in doing the right thing.  There two primary errors that institutions commit in relationship to abuse--sexual, verbal, physical, or psychological. First, very often institutions act as if it can’t happen to them. Several years ago, I worked for an organization and became concerned that we be more proactive about possible incidents of abuse.  Nothing had happened, but I believed that it would be appropriate to take steps to head off any problems both for the sake of those we served...