A recipe for thriving rural congregations despite shifting demographics
Faced with declining attendance and aging membership, rural pastors can invite reflection on congregational history and community needs to adapt for new opportunities.
Innovation
Recently published
Tags
Tags
Beyond church walls, common threads catalyze communities
Faith & Leadership checks in with three previously featured projects about their continued learning and growth over recent years.
Link to author Edie Gross
By
Edie Gross
Journalist
Why are Christian congregations important today?
The Forum for Congregational Life will work to facilitate learning among all types of congregations in ways that strengthen and support them.
Alaina Kleinbeck
David L. Odom
Why would an established organization change its name?
Leadership Education at Duke Divinity is now the Forum for Congregational Life. The organization’s executive director explains that there are important reasons for the name change, including a revised focus.
Link to author David L. Odom
By
David L. Odom
Executive director, Forum for Congregational Life
‘Church Tomorrow? What the Nones and Dones Teach Us About the Future of Faith’
In this excerpt from her new book, a former None who is now a denominational leader writes about the future of the church.
Link to author Stephanie Spellers
By
Stephanie Spellers
Canon in Residence, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church
Religious institutions and spiritual innovators need each other
Building local spiritual ecosystems can provide stability in a shifting religious landscape and help communities flourish, a nonprofit network leader writes.
Link to author Danielle Goldstone
By
Danielle Goldstone
Founder and director, innoFaith
A nonprofit focused on young people’s success has built a championship soccer program
Partnering with local churches, the reVision Football Club in Houston has made high-quality soccer training available to players from marginalized neighborhoods. More than 40 have gone on to compete in college.
Link to author Lindsay Peyton
By
Lindsay Peyton
Journalist
Through partnership, prayer and perseverance, a small, suburban congregation responds to the community’s need for affordable housing
It took 16 years for Brigit’s Village, a 40-unit, intergenerational apartment complex in northern Colorado, to come to fruition.
Link to author Daliah Singer
By
Daliah Singer
Journalist
The Theological Education Between the Times project continues to seed fruitful, faithful dialogue
More than a decade after it began, a project on theological education has generated a dozen books and far more conversations.
Corwin Malcolm Davis
Ted A. Smith
Argrow “Kit” Evans-Ford: Families deserve generational, sustainable, long-term change
This Christian social enterprise has expanded from bath and body products to a café and food truck to support and train women who have experienced abuse.
Jazz doesn’t just teach leaders the importance of improvisation. It also teaches the necessity of imitation
Imitation lays the foundation for improvisation, a lesson for leadership as well as for music.
Link to author L. Roger Owens
By
L. Roger Owens
Hugh Thomson Kerr Professor of Pastoral Theology, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
