The Ministry Lab is here to invigorate the life of your congregation.
Our resources on stewardship, social justice, outreach, volunteers, and pastoral care are updated frequently to reflect current realities, opportunities and challenges, so check back often.
Stewardship & Giving
Stewardship can be a challenging topic in the best of times—in times of transition and uncertainty, even more so. Lean on the wisdom of others to guide your conversations and stewardship decisions. Access our stewardship and giving resources for tips on:
- Individual adult stewardship
- Talking with children and youth about stewardship
- Congregational stewardship
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership Leading Ideas blog has highlighted stewardship during COVID-19 many times:
- 7 Ways to Keep Revenue and Donations Flowing During the COVID-19 Crisis from stewardship expert Rob Blezard
- Now Is the Time to Ask Contributors to Set up Recurring Online Gifts
- The Coming Revolution in Church Economics,
- Are Your Pandemic Giving Systems as Effective as the Offering Plate?
Social Justice
Social justice is the calling of every follower of Jesus. Helping individuals and communities determine where to devote time, finances, energy and skills is central to a faith leader’s call. These social justice resources will help you lead conversations and engage your members and whole communities in the work of justice.
- Climate/Environmental Sustainability
- COVID-19 Compassion
- Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness/Transiency
- Systemic Racism & White Supremacy Culture
- Census & Voting
- Conflict, Division & Reconciliation
- Gun Violence & Control
Our friends at Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light have been working hard to get out the vote. Individuals and congregations can join the effort:
- Sign and share their Pledge to vote for climate justice;
- Read and share their faith values voter guide;
- Request an absentee ballot to vote without risking your health.
Rev. Jia Starr Brown of First Covenant Church Minneapolis invites individuals and congregations to make A Commitment to Inclusion in Our Neighborhoods. The ACTION Project is a yearlong journey of courageous listening, learning and action to bridge existing gaps of equity and justice.
Outreach & Hospitality
Extending hospitality to our neighbors is central to the life of every Christian congregation. Sometimes, though, expanding that circle of welcome and developing intentional forms of inclusive and joyful belonging can be trickier than it would seem. We’re here with outreach and hospitality resources to develop core congregational principles so individuals and your whole congregation can joyfully embrace every neighbor in your community.
Helping folks feel welcome, involved and engaged while practicing social distancing is particularly challenging. The Lewis Center for Church Leadership has a number of webcasts about engaging new online visitors, including:
- Becoming a Church without Walls with “ideas on how digital connections can help us reach people not previously connected to our congregations”
- 6 Traits People Value in Online Faith Communities
- Online Worship Makes Evangelism Less Intimidating for Many
- and The Adept Church
Volunteers & Teams
God’s work requires all God’s people! Support your community workers—both individuals and groups—with resources for creating and empowering effective volunteers and teams.
Congregations are proving exceptionally resilient and creative in meeting the needs of individuals, families and their communities. Sharing these Great Ideas is part of The Ministry Lab’s work.
If you need help keeping up morale—for yourself or your hard working volunteers—we recommend:
- Timothy Charles Murphy’s timely, Sustaining Hope in an Unjust World (Chalice)
- Britney Winn Lee’s newly released, Rally: Communal Prayers for Lovers of Jesus and Justice (Upper Room)
- Or, for the younger set (and their older siblings and parents!): Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracist Baby (Kokila)
Pastoral Care
Pastoral care is a unique role for church leaders. It can be isolating with its necessary boundaries, protocols and cautions, yet also highly gratifying when one is able to help a struggling soul. This dichotomy can take its toll on the caregiver’s body, heart and soul.
Congregational Health & Wellbeing
Our congregational health and well-being resources include:
- State and regional mental health resource centers
- Talking with children, families about grief and trauma
- Talking with tweens and teens about grief and trauma
- Talking with differently abled person about grief and trauma
- Contemplative and mental health practices to share with children and youth
- Supporting In-Reach and Congregational Care Teams
Personal Care for Leaders
Check out The Ministry Lab’s many resources for self-care and renewal, guidance for best practices and tools for offering pastoral care in evolving realities Personal Care for Leaders.
Group Spiritual Direction
Stay tuned for details on our plans to develop an online spiritual direction group. If you are interested in participating, contact Emily at ministrylab@unitedseminary.edu.
Great Idea
Generated by The Ministry Lab’s partners, congregational leaders and director. If you’ve got a Great Idea to share, let us know!
Cultivating Hope
I am confident denominational leaders, clergy and lay leaders, speak of their longings for “when things get back to normal” or “when things are like they used to be”, out of a desire to offer pastoral care and a sense of solidarity, but these phrases – and the sentiments they reflect and expectations they build – are bound to create frustration, failure and long-term grief: “Frustration”, because we long for a rose-colored past that wasn’t really all that great, and is therefore neither repeatable nor worth repeating. “Failure”, because pandemics – both medical (Covid-19) and socio/cultural (racism) – change reality in such a way that attempts to “go back to what was” will inevitably (and rightfully) fail. “Long-term Grief”, because longing for a reality that cannot be means never being satisfied with what is, so that loss of what was continuously replays itself in our psyches.
Co-Lab Feedback Loop
Get fired up, gain insight and share your own experiments with others through our Co-Lab Feedback Loop. The Loop meets once a month via zoom. Sign up here.
Learn More
Have something you’d like to discuss? Need to check out resources? Share questions, interests and ideas with The Ministry Lab’s Executive Director, Rev. Emily Meyer or search our site.