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Posts Categorized: Small church ministry
December 29, 2017
Someday is now Seeing the God dreams right in front of us by Donna Frischknecht Jackson The Christmas tree is losing its needles and the cutout Santa cookies are beyond stale. Christmas 2017 is fast-becoming a memory. All eyes are now on 2018. That means our eyes are on the goals and dreams we… Read more »
December 22, 2017
This Christmas Eve, linger a bit A little rural church basks in Christ’s light by Donna Frischknecht Jackson We had just finished singing Silent Night. The Christmas Eve service was soon to be over and I felt like a child who had just opened the last of her Christmas presents. I was still overjoyed,… Read more »
December 15, 2017
A different kind of Christmas card Who is waiting to hear from you? by Donna Frischknecht Jackson On my desk sits an index card with the initial “R” written on it in blue marker. I have thrown this index card into the garbage at least three times so far and, so far,… Read more »
December 8, 2017
The Christmas prayer tree A rural church reaches out in an unexpected way by Donna Frischknecht Jackson Silence fell upon the room. A woman at my table waved to the waitress to order another glass of wine. A good diversion on her part, I thought. Others around me glanced down at the meeting agenda,… Read more »
June 22, 2017
Whose fault is it? Blame has no place in the Kingdom of God By Susan Rothenberg Whose fault is it? When a congregation reaches the end of its life, whose fault is it? A pastor who kept putting off retirement, and as he lost energy, so did the congregation? A music director who refused to play… Read more »
May 22, 2017
Shake the dust off your feet When it’s time to move on in ministry By Mark Roth British anthropologist Robin Dunbar suggested 20 years ago that most human beings’ social groups number about 150 people, which matches the typical size of ancient hunter-gatherer tribes. The idea behind the Dunbar number, as it came to… Read more »
March 22, 2017
Long Illusions God’s miracles are all around us By Sarah Robbins Sometimes it takes too long to be able to see what’s going on. I am an impatient person. Having something block my vision or distort what is really going on always feels like a big waste of time to me. I get annoyed…. Read more »
October 17, 2016
At the end of the rope Caring for God’s legacy By Susan Rothenberg As an adviser for the Unglued Church, a program in Pittsburgh Presbytery for help with church change, I encounter a lot of churches at the end of their rope. It’s a time in a church’s life when it’s important to emphasize the importance of… Read more »
August 22, 2016
Churches never die Transforming grump into gratitude Jeffrey A. Schooley “Depressing” was the only observation from one of my elders after a recent session meeting. We had just reviewed demographic and sociological information from the remarkably helpful data aggregation web company, MissionInsite. The data revealed that much of our immediate community is “irreligious.” In fact, even… Read more »
August 2, 2016
Trusting in resurrection Accomplishing more together By Sarah Robbins “My first call was not what I had imagined– and what a relief that turned out to be.” This is pretty close to the phrasing that I hear most pastors say when describing the beginning of their work as Ministers of Word and Sacrament – for… Read more »