This week we were at the beautiful University of Notre Dame to speak to a gathering there, including church leaders from every part of the country. We began our presentation the way we always begin: with a qualifier. We claim only to know what works when it comes to growing a healthy church in Timonium, […]
Category: Making Church Matter
Unchurched: It’s Worse Than You Think As part of our book promotion we have been invited to every part of the country and we hear the same story over and over again everywhere. Church in America, Catholic and Protestant, is in decline. People are leaving in astonishing and astounding numbers. For all the wishful thinking […]
There are volumes of material out there analyzing what’s limiting church growth (and hastening church decline). It seems everyone has their theories: theologians, sociologists, the media. However, sometimes we focus too much outwardly, when the problem is much closer to home than maybe we’d like to admit. Here are just a few of the problems […]
Here at Nativity we want to be a church unchurched people in our community want to attend. To do that, we need to understand them. Here are some characteristic of people who aren’t going to church in Timonium (with thanks to Pastor Carey Nieuwhof of Connexus Church): They’re comfortable and successful and consider their […]
This week I had a great opportunity to spend the day with pastoral leaders in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey (they’re a great group, by the way). One question that a number of people asked me in a variety of ways was, “Why are people leaving Church?” That’s a very good question and part […]
This weekend we get to witness history with the canonization of Popes John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. I don’t have much of anything to contribute on Pope John (a little before my time) but Pope John Paul is a huge figure in my life. He was the Pope when I was discerning my […]
Great leaders have great vision. Jesus Christ is the greatest leader who ever lived because he had the greatest vision. Through his ministry he painted a vision of a better future for what could be and should be in the lives of his followers. To a people living in fear, Jesus cast a vision […]
Nine years ago we did something unexpected and, to many, unwelcome. We moved Christmas off campus. We decided to end the annual exercise in dysfunction and disappointment that was our Christmas Eve. The plan was to relocate our celebration in a setting that could accommodate our parishioners and allow us to welcome the visitors and […]
Friday, November 8 we hosted our first ever conference for other churches. We called it “matter.” The purpose of the conference was to inspire, encourage, equip and challenge Catholic parishes to awaken the faithful, reach the lost and make church matter. The conference sold out 550 seats; we added 50 more and they sold out […]
The Matter conference is now less than a week away, and the official countdown is on. I’ll take this opportunity, probably my last given the way the week is shaping up, to give you a peak behind the curtain about what you can expect. A crowd. Organizers capped attendance at 550, which was all we […]
