Insights from in and around the association
UBA Voices
5 Self Assessment Questions Pastors Need to Ask Right Now
Whether you are pastoring bivocationally like me, or full time as I did for 27 years, the weight of a pastor’s call has grown even heavier over the last couple of years. Here are five questions every pastor needs to ask right now to assess their condition amid the challenges of ministry.
Vision Reset
Maybe the new year doesn't require a complete overhaul of your church's vision. But what about a vision reset?
Translating Your Vision
One evening when our adult kids were home for Christmas, we entertained ourselves with Google translate by translating phrases back and forth to see how they might change. Communicating clearly and effectively is both important and challenging for church and ministry leaders. How often have you conveyed a key message and then been shocked at how it was misunderstood by others? Probably far more often than you would like.
What's the Foundation of a Team?
I haven’t always been a big fan of teams. My perception of teams was what is commonly known as the 80/20 rule—20% of the people are doing 80% of the work. I generally equated “team” with “committee” and saw both as sterile ground for finding solutions and fertile forums for discord. It was not until I arrived at UBA in 1990 that I encountered a learning culture that differentiated between a group of people on task and a truly high performance team.
Is the Building the Vision?
How many new church plants start to decline after they acquire a permanent building? I recently received this question in an email. Though I don't have the statistics, I do have stories. These are stories of churches that have slowly started their decline after completing building projects and others that have built and are still thriving today. But what has made the difference?