Rev. Stephen Lewis
President
The Fund for Theological Education
Recent entries:
January 01, 2012
I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that you are preparing for an exciting new year.
As people contemplate New Year’s resolutions, many Christians
around the world are preparing to celebrate the feast day of Epiphany,
which commemorates
God’s revelation in Jesus and his appearance to the world as
God’s beloved Son.
What is God’s revelation in you or your organization? As God’s
beloved, how will you appear to the world? On the dawn of a new year,
these are two
questions I am wrestling with on behalf of The Fund for
Theological Education (FTE).
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September 14, 2010
For the last few years, I have been working with young pastors on leadership formation issues through Project Rising Sun, a pastoral leadership academy. Based on my work with these leaders, I have distilled seven key leadership capacities young pastors need to develop in order to thrive in ministry.
These seven leadership capacities are crucial elements in the life of any young pastor serious about pastoral ministry. If congregations are to become vital faith communities filled with God’s people practicing life abundantly together and engaging the human and social needs of the community, young pastors must cultivate these practices over time.
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September 03, 2010
Are you interested in strong leadership for the church? Do you want the church to thrive and be relevant in the world? If so, what are the keys to renewal and vitality?
According to a recent United Methodist Church study, the four key factors are: “small groups and programs; worship services that mix traditional and contemporary styles with an emphasis on relevant sermons; pastors who work hard on mentorship and cultivation of the laity; and an emphasis on effective lay leadership.” These four factors depend on the church giving more attention to the continuous work of cultivating quality leaders who attend to them. And because the average age of both clergy and parishioners are rising-- and because church is becoming less relevant to young people (according to the study), cultivating quality leaders should be a church mandate!
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August 12, 2010
Part 2 of 2
The early church was not a practical idea. Apostle Paul admitted that
our proclamation was foolish. Even Jesus’ contemporaries thought he was
crazy, if not a madman. People have invested in and died for more
preposterous causes in the church’s history. But they were willing to
face the ridicule of the masses and risk the uncharted waters of the
future, even if it meant their livelihood, if not their life, for the
church’s sake. What are you willing to do?
The vitality of the church and its future is dependent on the quality of
its leaders and their break from an addiction to messianic leadership.
The church’s vitality and future requires that you and I risk being
changed and transformed. I long to see the day when congregations and
their leaders all across this land, if not the entire church, have gone
wild and are set loose in the world as the presence of God’s healing and
Shalom.
Read More »
August 10, 2010
Part 1 of 2
In a New York Times article this past weekend entitled “Congregations Gone Wild,”
the author claimed that clergy are “suffering from burnout,” “working
too much,” and attending too often to “their congregation’s daily
wishes,” behaviors which may lead to greater job security in a
profession that is severely underpaid. This news is not surprising
especially among those who work with clergy and congregations.
However, what I do find surprising is a prevailing belief among many
clergy and congregations that one pastor is equipped and able to attend
faithfully to the needs of an entire faith community. What I find most
alarming is an underlying assumption that clergypersons are somehow
endowed by God with...
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February 18, 2010
Imagine a television commercial targeting youth and young adults with the slogan: The church needs you! Explore the call to ministry…
What emotions would such an idea conjure up with in you? Would it be a good thing or not?
A few weeks ago, Melissa Wiginton, Vice President of Ministry Programs and Planning at FTE, and I had a conversation about recruiting people to explore the possibility of ministry as a profession, even if they themselves have not identified their own call.
While this might be an unpopular idea in the church, the U.S. military used to advertise with a portrait of Uncle Sam with the following words: I Want You for the U.S. Army to potential recruits.
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December 02, 2009
The ability as a church to gather together and serve the community in creative ways depends on leadership. It depends on an intergenerational conversation that captures the imagination of gifted young leaders among us who feel called to serve the church. For North Carolina churches and communities—for the entire church—quality leadership is the foundation for vital and sustainable Christian institutions. It’s about thriving, not just surviving.
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August 11, 2009
National Director, FTE Calling Congregations
What does it take to set the church loose on the world as agents of God's healing and shalom? What kinds of leaders are necessary to lead that kind of church? What does it take to form leaders for that church?
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June 12, 2009
Three years ago, a few colleagues and I began to wrestle with these
questions. That wrestling has become a signature pastoral leadership
development program for young clergy, Project Rising Sun (PRS).
Read More »
February 02, 2009
On the final day of the retreat, we discussed how to reclaim Sabbath in our daily lives as we turned toward home. We read a poem adapted by Wayne Muller’s “Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm” to ground our discussion in what it means to rest from our labors. In the poem, the author says, “In the relentless busyness of modern life, we have lost the rhythm between work and rest. All life requires a rhythm of rest.” Many of us discovered this past weekend that this rhythm does not have to be weekly or prescribed to a particular day of the week. In fact, we were encouraged to find daily rhythms of Sabbath as we carry-on with the activities of our lives.
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