Immigration is a major component in the changing U.S. religious landscape. According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of Latinx Christians increased from thirteen percent in 2007 to sixteen percent in 2014.[1] For this reason, the Religious Workforce Project includes qualitative data from eight Latinx congregations. In this post, I will introduce Iglesia Episcopal…
What are some options to consider when church staffing needs exist, but, as scripture states, “the laborers are few?” Oakmont Baptist Church in Greenville, North Carolina, where I formerly served as senior pastor experienced two significant staff changes within a 10-month time frame. What are some of the benefits of outsourcing church staffing needs? What…
By Lovett H. Weems Jr. As congregations seek to carry out their missions faithfully, they will want to assess their spending on personnel. In that process, they need to address spending that includes both clergy and lay staff. The Lewis Center has been seeking to learn the proportions of church budgets spent on paid clergy…
By Lovett H. Weems Jr. Church leaders often ask if their spending on personnel is reasonable in relation to comparable churches. This question is not easy to answer. We look first at some elements of church budgeting and the place of personnel. Churches spend their funds for a variety of purposes to fulfill their missions,…
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 ethnic diversity. When the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church of America merged to form the ELCA in 1988, the leaders of the new denomination set a Constitutional goal…
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 377 years of ministry. A small group of faithful souls still gathered every Sunday morning. A preschool met in the downstairs hall on weekdays. More than 40 area residents tended…
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 Christian congregations in the United States was 80 people[1], and by 2018-19 this had dropped to 70 participants for the average congregation[2]. Smaller congregations usually have fewer financial resources and…