Jump directly to the Content

Making Creativity Comfortable


Churches marked with traditions and hair-triggered judgments require relentless patience.
—Michael Lewis

Can a multigenerational, multipurposed, multimanaged, mixed-motive, diversely preferenced congregation grow and adapt to a constantly changing culture?

Of course they can. But who would want to suggest it to them?

Not many ministers enjoy tightening the tension of a congregation stretched between frustration (for moving too slowly) and fear (of changing too fast).

Yet, in an age of newly planted, zero-history, purpose-driven, narrowly targeted, seeker-sensitive success stories, the current love of my ministry life is serving an established congregation. My passion is to communicate to these beloved but diverse people that not only is their past worthy of celebration, but their best days are still ahead.

It is a difficult mission. Most established congregations are somewhat frightened by the thought of relating to unchurched people where they are in our culture. If you lead in that direction, ...

Tags:
Posted:
March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

From the Magazine
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
While reporting in Israel, photographer Michael Winters captures an unusually vacant experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close