"We will all be newcomers"

Hers was a simple statement, but she named something significant. "When we return, we will all be newcomers."Â

After a year of pandemic, congregational life has changed. As our buildings reopen and capacity increases for in-person worship, we are not reentering those buildings in the same way we left them. What was habit or instinctual a year ago is no longer so. Some of the ways we were together in these spaces are no longer available to us because of ongoing health and safety measures. When we return, we'll all be newcomers.Â

For congregational leaders, this is both a challenge and an opportunity, and in this Weekly, we look at both. First, I reflect a bit more on this idea of being newcomers and how it is that congregations may be uniquely positioned to celebrate being newcomers together. Then, my colleague Dave Odom invites us to imagine the next three most faithful steps for our congregations and institutions. Victoria White reminds us that congregational leaders have an advantage in planning for the inevitable roadblocksÂ that will come as we reopen and welcome our people back. Finally, after a year of reckoning with racial injustice, as we resume congregational life together, Stephanie Crumpton challenges us to move beyond apologies to real community transformation through accountability and grace.Â

Welcome to the Weekly.Â

Greeting our return when the old is gone and the new is here

In this moment after we have missed so many other moments together, congregations will need the best of what we know about welcoming newcomers to help us find ways of being back together.

Resources for leaders during the pandemic

Learn more

The next three most faithful steps

After an unprecedented year, looking ahead can feel overwhelming. The right questions and partners can help prioritize what comes next, writes the executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

Frankly planning for roadblocks is an advantage for pastors

Frankly planning for roadblocks is an advantage for congregational leaders

As we find our way back together, congregational leaders can remain focused on their goals by anticipating challenges, naming them, and preparing for them, writes a managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

Sometimes it's not enough to say you're sorry

When Christian leaders learn to hold grace and accountability in creative tension, the foundation is laid for responses that are truly transformative, writes a seminary professor.

Celebrating the Graying Church: Mutual Ministry Today, Legacies Tomorrow

by Richard P. Olson

Today, many churches and their related agencies and ministries are shrinking. Often a large portion of those who remain are older adults.Â Celebrating the Graying ChurchÂ suggests that this is an opportunity for a new and different kind of ministry -- a ministry to, with, and from older adults who may have wisdom to pass on to the legacy of the future generations. This book offers opportunities, ideas and guidance for this new vision and practice of ministry, while also describing how aging adults in ministry can support each other and their faith communities.

Learn more and order the book

Before you go...

"What are you eager to return to after the pandemic is over?" "What have you set aside during the pandemic that you don't want to pick back up once it's over?"Â

I asked these questions recently to a panel of congregational leaders on Zoom. Their answers were illuminating, even if not altogether surprising. Of course, they missed in-person worship and meaningful face-to-face pastoral encounters. They missed celebrating sacraments and other ritual moments of their faith traditions. They missed holy days together. They didn't miss seemingly endless meetings but enjoyed sharing more times with their families. They relished deeper congregational engagement in the issues and questions of this cultural moment.Â

How would you answer these questions? It occurs to me that one of the gifts of being newcomers together is that we can claim some new ways of being together -- by reimagining and defining participation, examining and resetting expectations, naming and prioritizing what is life-giving in our ministries. Let's not miss that opportunity in a rush to get back to normal.Â

We'll see you next week. In the meantime, peace!Â