by Rev. Chris Gambill, Ph.D. Fall is one of the seasons when the Center for Congregational Health staff typically sees an uptick in calls inquiring about church consulting. While it is often congregational conflict that prompts a call, there are many other situations...
Blog
November 9, 2016
by Beth Kennett Today, the Church—and any community that encourages belonging, love and acceptance—has an opportunity to boldly step into the present and lead the way into the future. Today, I embrace this idea more strongly than other days. Today, our nation, with...
Vital Merger: Joining Church Families Together
By Dirk Elliott DownRiver Church celebrated its first worship service as a new church start on July 7, 2013, with 186 people in attendance. DownRiver is a Vital Merger of four churches in the Detroit area. In December, 2012, each of these four churches voted, with...
Appreciative Inquiry–What is it?
Definitions of Appreciative Inquiry as shared on Appreciative Inquiry Commons at appreciativeinquiry.case.edu. “Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discover of...
Appreciative Approach to Congregational Work
by Beth Kennett An approach to working with congregations or groups of any kind is to use an appreciative approach, asking for and encouraging the group, and individuals, to focus on and appreciate what works. Several books and processes have been created to help...
Thursday Morning Conversation, Oct. 6, 10 am–What to do when your church is experiencing conflict
Join us for a conversation at 10 am, October 6. Call information: 641.715.3300, access code 165517# The Center for Congregational Health has had a lot of calls about church conflict lately, almost daily over the past month. Why is this? What is going on? I have a...
What does the “Next” Church look like?
Over the past week, I have been involved in several conversations about the church of the future, or the “next” church. People usually approach this conversation from one of two perspectives—either, fear and concern for the future of the Church, especially the...
Training opportunities
The conventional approach to problem-solving in business or church is to discover the root cause of a problem and to fix it. Appreciative Inquiry takes a radically different approach: Discover the root of cause of success and improve it. Problems are acknowledged in...
CCH E-News
We are working to bring you more relevant and up to date information in our newsletter each week. The most recent edition was sent on Tuesday, August 2. There is more than one way to subscribe: click on this link, read the latest edition, scroll to the bottom of the...
Healthy Church Blog
This week I read a wonderful blog by Elizabeth Mangham Lott, Ode to an Imperfect Church. It could be entitled "Ode to a healthy church." Elizabeth's writing is a gift to the reader and this blog, in particular, made me pause. When I work with a congregation, I want...