(RNS) Hope, by nature, is defiant, counterintuitive and lodged in surprising places. So a new report detailing the spiritual, demographic and financial challenges faced by small… read more

While I was in Divinity School and throughout my discernment process for ordination, my one prayer was, “Please God, do not let me end up a solo clergyperson in a small … read more

The longer I serve in a local church, the more I become aware how much our physical spaces — the spaces we use for worship, teaching, fellowship and service — say a… read more

Summer Grove United Methodist Church in Shreveport, La. faces the challenges of many United Methodist churches in the United States — aging membership, changing racial… read more

Church leadership has long held a bent toward the “bigger is better” mantra of capitalistic America. We franchise new church plants. We structure our institutions to… read more

This is a follow-up to last week’s article, “Can we stop making excuses for small churches?” My intention for writing that was not to suggest that churches of… read more