What did we expect? Expectations can sabotage ourselves and ministry by N. Graham Standish She was disappointed and deflated as she reflected on three years of pastoring her church: This isn’t what I thought ministry would be like. Trying to be as gentle as possible, I asked, “What did you expect?” “I don’t know,” she replied,… Read more »
September 1, 2020
Hopeful Church
What did we expect? Expectations can sabotage ourselves and ministry by N. Graham Standish She was disappointed and deflated as she reflected on three years of pastoring her church: This isn’t what I thought ministry would be like. Trying to be as gentle as possible, I asked, “What did you expect?” “I don’t know,” she replied,… Read more »
Spiritual experiences in church A ‘no’ or a ‘yes’? by N. Graham Standish For years, when leading retreats and seminars on spiritually transforming congregations, I’ve often asked a revealing question: How would we react to someone who told us on a Sunday morning, “Hey, I want to share an amazing experience I had the… 
Getting to know you Your church is the people by Richard Hong “A church is the people, not the building.” Would anyone think of this as a controversial statement? Yet we need to explore fully what this means at a practical level in our churches. Sure, a common complaint is that there are some… 
Not Yet Do you have a ‘growth mindset’? by Richard Hong I’m seeing a lot of decisions made at all levels of the denomination, as we struggle with negative overall trends. What distresses me about the decisions are that so many of them seem to presume that continued decline is inevitable. I don’t… 
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…