I frequently work with churches that are located in communities with multiple needs and issues. In urban neighborhoods, and more frequently now in suburbs and rural communities, you might find the following issues:

• high levels of unemployment, with families struggling to meet basic needs as a result

Recently, my church experienced its first-ever Five Day Challenge, an initiative launched several years ago by Willow Creek Community Church. The Challenge encourages people to eat only small portions of rice and beans at each meal as a tangible experience of the hunger that ...

I swore I wouldn't sign up for Twitter. It seemed like a nuisance. I had already given in to Facebook and started my personal blog. I didn't need one more thing!

But I quickly realized that as a leader in a church with a population of primarily Generation X and Y, I needed ...

I am not sure the North American church in general does the right thing on Mother's Day or Father's Day. Then again, I don't always attend church on these feel-good holidays because frankly, they don't make me feel so good.

As a 38-year-old woman who married in her mid-30s, my ...

Have you ever led a small group in which the following type of scenario took place?

You're excited because you invited a new person to your small group–perhaps a young co-worker or a student you met on campus–and this person is not a believer. He or she lives with their boyfriend ...

This week I received an email that began, "I know you must be crazy with Holy Week...." The writer, of course, was referring to the phenomenon of church leaders fried by the frenzied business of leading a church during Easter. But the phrase stayed near to me, even as I succumbed ...

Eleven months ago I stepped out of full-time ministry to give birth to my first child. After working for nine years as a pastor and one year as a hospital chaplain, I knew the transition from ministry to motherhood would be stretching; but I had no idea how stretching.

In place ...