Fill… Spill… Thrill…

The Parish Paper is a monthly newsletter authored by Herb Miller, Lyle Schaller and Cynthia Woolever offering ideas and insights for active congregations.

The Parish Paper is provided to ELCA mission centers in Nebraska through the Nebraska Synod. The paper may be downloaded and redistributed as follows:

Mission centers/congregations within the Synod may distribute copies of The Parish Paper to staff and members via e-mail, postal, newspaper, newsletter, meetings, training events and this web page.

Mission centers/congregations within the Synod may photocopy or electronically distribute for local use as many copies of The Parish Paper as it needs, post them on their respective websites and quote sentences and paragraphs.

2010

• September - Planning for the Unexpected Financial Crisis
• August - How Much Should We Pay Our Pastor?
• July - Should Our Congregation Use Internet Social Media?
• June - Why Does Mentoring Succeed and Fail?
• May - Generous Givers - A Product of Motivation and Methods
• April - What Can We Learn From the Emerging Church Movement
• March - New Trends in Belonging
• February - Should We Fine-Tune Our Church’s Internal Culture?
• January - Become Comfortable with Conflict: Step One to Moving Beyond It!

2009

• December - Are We a Leader-Sending Congregation?
• November - Seven Roads to a Multicultural Congregation
• October - Women Pastors: Are Our Assumptions Correct?
• September - Do We Sing All Five Worship-Hymn Preferences?
• August - Shepherding Congregations through Grief Storms
• July - Lay Testimonials Strengthen Financial Giving
• June - One Congregation: Many Locations
• May - Permanent Endowment Fund: Blessing and Temptation
• April - What Do People Want in Their Pastors?
• March - Going into all the World: Church Website Basics

2008

• November - The Fun Factor Asset in Congregational Climate
• October - Requirements for Membership: Which Ones Matter?
• September - The Change Agent’s Checklist
• August - How Does Church Size Impact Decision-Making?
• July - Giving to Congregations: Have Patterns Changed?
• June - “Teaching Moments” Strengthen Governing Board Meetings
• May - How Effective Is Our Financial Communication?
• April - Making a Good Start with Your New Pastor

The purpose of Fill Spill Thrill is to offer resources, thoughts and guidance to mission centers, congregations and members of the Nebraska Synod that we hope will enhance their ability to carry out ministry locally. To that end, we welcome comments from our readers on the ideas expressed in this online newsletter.

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