Laity
Laity
Recently published
Tags
Tags
A note to pastors from a visitor in your pews
Writing from her perspective as a former pastor and now frequent church visitor, an associate director for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity’s Thriving Congregations Coordination Program suggests simple, concrete ways to welcome the visiting stranger.
Link to author Sarah E. Forsyth
By
Sarah E. Forsyth
Associate Director, Thriving Congregations Coordination Program
A church offers training in faith and finance
Kingdom Fellowship AME Church helps its members thrive through financial literacy classes that help build economic stability and faithful generosity.
Link to author Leslie Quander Wooldridge
By
Leslie Quander Wooldridge
Journalist
Churches became one-stop shops at the height of COVID-19, but that is not sustainable
The pandemic pushed clergy into multiple new roles, and they responded. Now some of that work should be redirected to people better trained to do it, writes a director of grants for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.
Link to author Victoria Atkinson White
By
Victoria Atkinson White
Director of Grants, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity
Dignity and respect are the key to a multimillion-dollar ministry supported by a successful thrift shop
Dorcas Ministries attracts hundreds of volunteers who work at its secondhand store — and believe in its larger mission as one of the region’s premier social welfare agencies.
Link to author Yonat Shimron
By
Yonat Shimron
Journalist
Celeste Kennel-Shank: ‘It was the safest place I knew as a child.’
A pastor and journalist tells the story of the Community of Christ in Washington, D.C., in which she grew up. It was a five-decade-long experiment in living and worshipping in a neighborhood parish that intentionally ended in 2016.
Bearing fruit beyond having children
Some churches may prioritize families with young children, but they should also remember to value all members, an Episcopal priest writes.
Link to author Elizabeth Felicetti
By
Elizabeth Felicetti
Priest and author
‘Napkin Theology: Small Drawings About Big Ideas’
In this excerpt from their new book, two North Carolina writers describe how God’s love is manifest in creation.
Emily Lund
Tyler Hansen
Incubator for discipleship
Rather than investing in a single, institutionally driven project, an Austin church is inviting parishioners to come up with innovative ways to serve their city — and providing initial funding.
Link to author Edie Gross
By
Edie Gross
Journalist
The Gallatin hotel as an economic engine for ministry
A real estate developer who has transformed Nashville churches into boutique hotels has created the Rooms for Rooms program, which donates a portion of hotel profits to organizations working with people experiencing homelessness.
Link to author Fiona Soltes
By
Fiona Soltes
Journalist
Falling in love again — with a congregation
Now could be the time to rediscover why we chose a faith community in the first place and to consider what’s next, writes the director of the Thriving Congregations Coordination Program at Duke Divinity.
Link to author Kelly Ryan
By
Kelly Ryan
Communications Specialist, The Evaluation and Communications Project at the Center for Congregations
