After blogging for 10+ years and publishing nearly 1,900 posts here at So What Faith, writing content about matters of faith that matter has become part of my identity. COVID-19 COVID-19 has disrupted all areas of life, and impacted how people experience community, including communities of faith. In recognition of this, I shifted from wide ranging content to focus on a series of posts about differing aspects of what is happening in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic alongside a continuation Read More …
Cameron Trimble
Book Recommendations – May 2019 (#1797)
The 10 best books published in 2019 that I read during the month of April are (5.0) Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count by Phil Buchanan (Public Affairs, 2019) (5.0) Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight by Cameron Trimble (Chalice Press, 2019) (4.5) One Coin Found: How God's Love Stretches to the Margins by Emmy Kegler (Fortress Press, 2019) (4.5) Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World by Read More …
Toward Church Renewal (#1522)
Cameron Trimble, CEO of the Center for Progressive Renewal, recently offered five suggestions to aid in the work of congregational renewal: Stop settling for mediocre worship. Turn members into ministers, not managers. Create environments of innovation. Seminaries are great, but we need more learning partners. Start embracing technology. I agree with Trimble that each of these is an important step toward renewal. Furthermore, I believe the time for conversation that Read More …
Progressive Christianity in 2015 (#1513)
Nearly half a month into 2015 the newness of a new year is fading. Those who made New Year's resolutions are either beginning to let them go or firmly engaged in their pursuit in ways that are sustainable. Tom Ehrich proposed a list of three faith trends for 2015 topped by "memories are fading." Ehrich believes Christianity in the present and future will benefit by fewer and fewer Christians having memories of the boom time in American Christianity back in the 1950s. He has Read More …
Marketing, Mission & Money (#1324)
Last weekend First Congregational Church (Winter Park, FL) welcomed Cameron Trimble and Michael Piazza of the Center for Progressive Renewal. They led a workshop for leaders from churches across Florida focused on marketing, mission and money - three of the most challenging issues facing the church today. While I was unable to attend, I benefited from it by reading some of the quotes Sarah Lund, Regional Minister of the Western Region of the Florida Conference of the United Church of Read More …
Counting Online Ministry (#1212)
As the year draws to a close, leaders in many congregations are actively involved in crafting annual reports. Depending on your congregation's denomination, network or association, certain statistics may be required. In almost all congregations, there are other things that get counted throughout the year and are then reported to the congregation annually. When people talk about the size and scope of ministry in a given congregation and seek to compare it to that of another, the Read More …
New Church Metrics (#0801)
Cameron Trimble is the Executive Director of the Center for Progressive Renewal, which seeks to “renew Progressive Christianity by training new entrepreneurial leaders, supporting the birth of new liberal/progressive congregations, and by renewing and strengthening existing progressive churches.” In her article on church metrics in the Spring 2012 edition of New Times she proposes a new scorecard for churches that is designed to more accurately reflect the Read More …
How to Reverse Mainline Decline (or not) (#0510)
Rev. Cameron Trimble is the Executive Director of the Center for Progressive Renewal, which seeks to "renew Progressive Christianity by training new entrepreneurial leaders, supporting the birth of new liberal/progressive congregations, and by renewing and strengthening existing progressive churches." Recently, she spoke in Connecticut to a group of seventy-five United Church of Christ pastors and educators. In her speech, Trimble made the historical observation that Read More …