Search Results for: Graham Standish

Hopeful Church

  Are we yelling too much? How to train church leaders effectively by Graham Standish  I used to get yelled at a lot. Anyone who’s ever played sports has gotten yelled at, but I felt like coaches yelled at me more than most. Someone once told me that it’s when coaches stop yelling that you… Read more »

Hopeful Church

Maybe We Just Don’t Get It!  … or teaching old dogs new tricks by Graham Standish “Dad,… you just don’t get it!” How many times have I heard that refrain from one of my daughters? “Okay,… help me get it,” I reply. They just roll their eyes and mutter, “Never mind.” Not getting it is the… Read more »

Hopeful Church

What Good Is a Vision without a Path? You can’t tell a congregation where to go if you don’t tell then how to get there by Graham Standish In the King James Version of the Bible, there’s a lovely phrase that’s been quoted often by those teaching church leadership: “Where there is no vision, the… Read more »

Hopeful Church

Does the Church really need to be fixed?   by N. Graham Standish    I recently spoke with a pastor about a church from his past. He had felt called to go there, believing he could fix it, but then felt defeated, lamenting that it was just too broken to fix… or was it? He’s… Read more »

Hopeful Church

Your church is what you believe it to be Are you part of a hopeful church? by N. Graham Standish   I’m changing paths: From a “Wisdom Journey” to a “Hopeful Church.” For the past two years I’ve been writing a blog on spiritual wisdom.  I’ve really enjoyed doing it because it’s allowed me to… Read more »

Wisdom Journey

Which Is It? Science or Religion? by N. Graham Standish    A Thought: Faith in science alone is a foolish myth. Faith in myth alone has is a fool’s science. Folly comes when we rely only on myth or only on science. Wisdom grows when myth and science clasp hands and lead us into deeper… Read more »

Wisdom Journey

To hate ‘hate’ or to love ‘love’… That is the question by N. Graham Standish    A Thought: It’s only as we learn what real love is that we truly recognize hate. And only then do we see how pervasive hate really is, yet even more how powerful love is. We can’t overcome hate by… Read more »

Wisdom Journey

Falling in love with God  What is Christian spirituality? by N. Graham Standish    A Thought: What is Christian spirituality? It’s very simple: falling in love with God so we can love others and ourselves. The moment we fall more in love with the Bible, the church, spiritual practices, worship, theology, or anything else that… Read more »

Wisdom Journey

Is faith about integration or competition? When culture conflicts with faith  by N. Graham Standish    A Thought: Christianity is an integrating faith forced to live in a competing culture. Our competitive culture leads to compartmentalization and conflict. An integrating faith leads to compassion and creativity. The question for us is one of culture or… Read more »

Wisdom Journey

The significance of the insignificant Finding God in the mundane by N. Graham Standish  God is found most often in the mundane, not the miraculous. But we’re constantly searching for God in signs rather than in subtleties. Wisdom grows as we embrace the significance of the insignificant. In the fifth century, when St. Patrick shared… Read more »