Fieldnotes Blog - Religious Workforce Project

The Fieldnotes Blog

Fieldnotes. /fēld nōt/ Noun. 1. Notes recorded in the field by researchers. In qualitative research, field notes may also include early insights or self-reflexive observations.

Here at The Fieldnotes Blog, you will find updates on our project as well as behind-the-scenes reports on our research process as it unfolds.

Sep292022

Collage of photos of older pastors and older people

Does an Aging Population Explain High Clergy Ages?

By Lovett Weems September 29, 2022

By Lovett H. Weems Jr. A significant concern within many faith communities in recent years has been the increasing age of clergy in the United…

Sep232022

Clergy Demographics Congregational Demographics Congregational Finance Research

How are Clergy of Color Faring in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America?

By Amy Kubichek September 23, 2022

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has had goals and policies in its churchwide office and synods since the late 1980s to increase racial and…

Sep142022

Congregational Finance Congregational Vitality Leadership Pastoral Imagination

Pastor preaching from the front of a church

Congregations That Thrive without Full-Time Clergy

By RWP Staff September 14, 2022

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald From the outside, First Parish Church (United Church of Christ) in Newbury, Massachusetts, appeared to be chugging along reasonably well after…

Sep12022

Clergy Demographics Leadership Research

Pastoral Staffing Arrangements in Small United Methodist Church Congregations

By Amy Kubichek September 1, 2022

It should come as no surprise that over the past few decades Christian congregations have been shrinking in terms of their average weekly worship attendance.…

Aug162022

Clergy Wellbeing Congregational Vitality Covid-19 Response Leadership Research

Masked pastor conversing with masked church member

Podcast Episode: “The Pandemic’s Real Impact on Clergy and Congregations” featuring Scott Thumma

By RWP Staff August 16, 2022

How has the pandemic shaped the vitality and resiliency of congregations? Did it really prompt large numbers of pastors to leave ministry? In this episode…

Jul292022

Congregational Vitality Leadership

Leading in Small Church or Multi-Church Settings

By RWP Staff July 29, 2022

Are you a pastor serving more than one church? Or a leader in a congregation that’s part of a multi-church ministry? In this Leading Ideas…

Jul202022

Administration Congregational Vitality Leadership Pastoral Imagination

Map showing the locations of two churches

2 Churches — 1 Pastor

By RWP Staff July 20, 2022

By Lewis A. Parks It’s important to remember that in some denominations, the normative expectation of a local church to have a resident pastor is relatively…

Jul142022

Clergy Wellbeing Congregational Vitality Covid-19 Response Leadership Research

Masked pastor speaking with a masked church member

The Pandemic’s Real Impact on Clergy and Congregations

By RWP Staff July 14, 2022

This article shares highlights from an in-depth interview with Scott Thumma, available in Leading Ideas from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary.…

Jun302022

Congregational Demographics Congregational Finance Congregational Vitality Leadership Research

Pastoral Staffing Arrangements in Small Nazarene Churches

By Amy Kubichek June 30, 2022

Over the past several decades, the average weekly worship attendance of Christian congregations has been decreasing. In 1998, the median number of regular participants of…

Jun222022

Clergy Demographics Leadership Pastoral Imagination

Four Incarnational Benefits of Bivocational Ministry

By RWP Staff June 22, 2022

By Steven C. Van Ostran It has been my experience that bivocational ministers see themselves and are looked upon by others as second-class ministers —…

Jun152022

Congregational Vitality

The Resilient Small Church

By Lovett Weems June 15, 2022

One of the most thoughtful gestures related to my ministry occurred a few months ago. I received an email from a United Methodist district superintendent…

Jun92022

Congregational Vitality Covid-19 Response Research

Person wearing a mask sitting in a pew during a worship service

How Has COVID-19 Impacted Religious Participation?

By Amy Kubichek June 9, 2022

How are congregations faring two years after the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in the United States? Has the number of worshipers who attend services…

Feb222021

Clergy Demographics Research

Clergy Age Trends Have Paved the Way for the Religious Workforce Project

By Lovett Weems February 22, 2021

Several research projects by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership paved the way for the current Religious Workforce Project. The longest continuous effort by the…

Feb222021

Clergy Demographics Clergy Wellbeing Congregational Vitality Research Theological Education

Previous Research by the Lewis Center Related to Religious Workforce

By Lovett Weems February 22, 2021

Several research projects by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership paved the way for the current Religious Workforce Project. Most of these involved the United…

Feb182021

Immigrant Churches Research

A Mobile Religious Workforce?

By Tim Snyder February 18, 2021

Early on the Religious Workforce Project (RWP), like other congregational studies, faced a sampling challenge: what list of congregations would we work from for recruiting churches…

Sep262019

News

Lewis Center Appoints Senior Researcher to Lead National Study

By RWP Staff September 26, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC — The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary has appointed Tim Snyder as senior researcher to lead its Religious Workforce…

Apr232019

News

Lewis Center Launches Major Study of the Nation’s Religious Workforce

By RWP Staff April 23, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC — The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary has launched an initiative to study the makeup of the religious workforce…