I have come to understand that the planning and execution of a pastoral transition can make a significant difference in the fruitfulness of both a pastor and congregation in the months ahead. There are a number of resources that I have used to develop tools which I have used in transition. You can find these […]
Last week, I had a series of posts about fruitfulness. As I have thought more about this topic, I wondered, How long do you wait? How long do you wait: before naming that you have been busy and not bearing fruit? to make a change? to celebrate fruit that is being born? before checking something […]
How do we help people live fruitfully in their day to day life? Ultimately, the church is not about keeping a variety of interesting programs running and giving people something that to do that is segmented from the rest of their lives. We are about equipping people to live fruitfully in their every day life […]
How do we separate busyness and fruitfulness? Fruitfulness leads to the fruit of the spirit are evidenced among the people. Another way to consider this is to see lives changed, communities transformed and the church renewed. Busyness does not lead to evidence of the fruit of the spirit. Busyness does not lead to changed lives, […]
It may be common practice to have the financial books of a local church to be regularly audited. Does the leadership of your congregation ever conduct ministry audits for fruitfulness? What would it look like to determine the fruitfulness of a particular ministry area in the church – small groups, UMW, a worship service? Related […]
I recently just finished Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results by Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Tom Berlin. Along with other members of the senior staff, I read this in preparation for our semi-annual retreat today. I have been considering what it fruitful and effective ministry is like, especially in response to Kevin Watson’s post, […]
Rev. Andrew Conard 