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Essays

Thoughtful personal reflections from a variety of perspectives about issues relevant to Christian leaders

Roger Owens: A checklist manifesto for church

By L. Roger Owens Hugh Thomson Kerr Professor of Pastoral Theology, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Atul Gawande’s book shows a checklist can save lives in surgery and air travel. Perhaps it can on Sundays too.

Small acts, great transformations

As the lives of André Trocmé and Nelson Mandela readily show, transformational leadership begins with small acts of goodness and basic human decency, writes Jason Byassee.

By Jason Byassee Senior minister, Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto

Image link to article: Small acts, great transformations

Gospel in the dirt

By Beth Felker Jones Professor, Wheaton College

On Ash Wednesday, we can no longer hide the truth about ourselves: that we are God’s creatures, that we are broken, that the spotless and perfect life is a lie, writes Beth Felker Jones.

Brad Kalajainen: A congregation can build without losing a sense of mission

By Brad Kalajainen

We have always viewed buildings (and now we can speak in the plural) as tools of ministry. Dynamic churches are always short of space.

Jason Byassee: The end of denominations?

By Jason Byassee Senior minister, Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto

What good do denominations do? What would be lost if they were gone?

Melissa Wiginton: Mentorship as advocacy on another's behalf

By Melissa Wiginton Vice president, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary

A mentor puts her younger colleague in a position to succeed and hangs in there with her. What do we call that?

Michael Jinkins: Four beatitudes for leadership

By Michael Jinkins Retired president, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

A church in New Orleans wants to move beyond rebuilding to educating for mission. They, and we, should bless dissent, failure, story, and blessing.

James Howell: Church growth via luck

By James Howell Senior pastor, Myers Park UMC

I grew a church big by being placed near a new housing development and bumping into a good-looking, gregarious couple that had just moved in.

Tom Arthur: To have a church building or not?

By Tom Arthur Pastor

Do bricks and mortar help or hinder mission?

Allegra Jordan: Solving the right problem

By Allegra Jordan

The problems of war, poverty, and disease pierced Maggy Barankitse like the nails of Calvary. She took those nails, picked up a hammer, and began to pound them into the foundations of a house of peace.