MorningWalk by Tom Ehrich
No More "Boring"
March 31, 2011
A Facebook friend said she had been discussing spirituality with college students. When she asked why traditional church wasn't part of their thinking, they told her, "Church is boring." My Facebook friend asked, "What to do?" My answer: "Stop doing boring church, instead respond to the yearning for God." Easier said than done, of course. What's boring to one is lively to another. But this ...
Two Essential "Re's": Respect and Relationship
March 30, 2011
Like any professionals, clergy get tired of people telling them how to do their jobs. Too many critics are playing "fix the pastor." Churches are complex systems, whose up seasons and down seasons are shaped by many players, not just clergy, not just vestries or sessions, and by a welter of external and internal forces. That's why I try to offer best practices, tools and tips, not criticism. ...
Some Sang, Some Served in Other Ways
March 28, 2011
Saturday's Gospel Festival was a glorious revelation. We discovered that our relatively new choir could hold its own alongside two of Harlem's leading ensembles. We discovered that Gospel music is an amazingly diverse genre. Three choirs did nine pieces, and no two were alike. We discovered that Gospel singers cheer for other choirs. We discovered that when you join all three choirs in Richard ...
Listen Up -- Wow! Aren't We Something?
March 24, 2011
In my Church Wellness Report today, I urged church leaders to "listen to the marketplace," meaning the world outside church doors. Splendid isolation no longer works. Doing so has some risks, namely, that we will hear more needs and yearnings than we can imagine addressing, we will hear more turmoil and ferment than we can stand, and we will hear a world quite different from any subset we know ...
