Barnabas File

Rapidly changing situations call for agile leadership.     Pinnacle Leadership Associates is partnering with Central Seminary (Shawnee, KS) to respond to the needs of church leadership during the COVID-19 crisis.  It is an example of what social entrepreneur Michel Gelobter calls “agile development.” The key words in this model are Build–Measure–Learn. Those three words capture the iterative nature of agile development. Gelobter says, “They are the way we make the product or service we are offering and how we test our hypotheses about the best ways to make it effective.” How does this work in the Central/Pinnacle partnership?  Pinnacle planned to respond to the COVID-19 crisis by gathering Pinnacle Associates and clergy leaders online for several weeks to identify and share emerging church practices.  Central received a grant in 2019 from the Lilly Endowment to launch a  Thriving Congregations initiative to respond to the reali...

We see the articles and blogs daily: church membership is in decline, mainline influence is waning, church buildings are a burden, membership is declining, fewer people are entering the ministry.     Despite the challenges, there is a way forward for the church.     I believe that the church will survive and prosper in the days ahead, but the form It takes will change.    Here are some strategies that may allow the church to remain vital and relevant. First, congregations must learn to engage in a deeper spirituality that will foster meaningful discernment.  Spiritual vitality is at the core of a healthy congregation.  There must be a significant shift from voicing what parishioners want to seeking where God is leading.  This will require both personal and corporate prayer, Bible study, and sacrifice. Second, we must recognize there is more than one path to leadership in churches.  Churches will continue to...