Living in Paradox – The Life of American Clergy
by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

Brooks Holifield of Candler School of Theology has offered a monumental service to the church in his comprehensive and richly documented history of clergy in what we now know as the United States. In God’s Ambassadors: A History of the Christian Clergy in America (Eerdmans, 2007), Holifield presents three arguments.

First, he shows that clerical authority has assumed multiple forms over the years and has undergone continual evolution, greatly shaped by distinctive social and cultural factors. Second, the customary narrative of decline of the place of clergy in American society does not do justice to the complexity of history. Holifield reminds us that clergy never had an unchallenged influence in American life, even in seventeenth-century New England. Third, American churches and clergy understand in their theology and practice that ordained ministry is only partially a profession. While there are clearly professional dimensions to ministry, the professional model has never proved adequate for either clergy self-understanding or the church’s understanding of their vocation.

Read More

Helping Newcomers Feel at Home in Worship

The Lewis Center has collected a list of best practices for welcoming newcomers to your church. Some of the suggestions include:

• Review your church bulletin and other printed material to make sure information is not “insider oriented.” Avoid church jargon and assuming that people understand the context.
• Make sure your order of worship is easy for a visitor to follow. Include written or verbal explanations of what is going on and why. Print the words to all prayers, songs, and responses.

Read More

Leaders do not need answers.
Leaders must have the right questions.

Sometimes it is good to have in mind questions that can elicit more information without seeming adversarial, such as:

Could you say more about what you mean?
Can you give an example?

Editors:  Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Ann A. Michel
Production and distribution:  Joe Arnold

Copyright © 2008 by the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Leading Ideas material may be freely distributed with attribution (exclusive of material protected by separate copyright).