Solomon wrote,"Ponder the path of your feet;then all your ways will be sure." (Proverbs 4:26 ESV) He is telling us to consider carefully our steps, to reflect, to give weight to each step we have taken and will take in the future. In an excellent post by Warren Bird of Leadership Network he looks back at 11 trends that they identified in 2011, 10 of the best resources from Leadership Network in 2011 and 100 helpful data points for church leaders, Enjoy!
- Eleven: During 2011 we did an extensive project that identified 11 trends and innovations in top churches. Topics ranged from “team collaboration” to “community engagement.” Here’s a quick overview of the topics, with free download links to each.
- Ten: In sort of a “Top 10” series, we itemize resources released from Leadership Network in 2011. They include new leadership communities and innovation labs, books, concept papers, videos, blogs, and more. See http://leadnet.org/resources/advance/3145.
- Nine: During 2011 my Twitter @warrenbird pointed to well over 100 data points helpful to church leaders. Here are 9 from roughly a year ago:
- 3/15/11: Can a church be sued over social media issue? helpful links, Christianity Today, http://bit.ly/gxlH9c
- 3/10/11: Should you have 1 or 2 Saturday night services? See my blogpost at @warrenbird http://j.mp/eda3TJ - Add your insight as well.
- 3/1/11: What is census saying about U.S. future? Surprise: direction is suburban over back to cities, Joel Kotkin in Forbes http://bit.ly/hD2nmo
- 2/19/11: Church giving fosters generosity: The more you give at church, the more you also donate to other groups http://bit.ly/dGERb2
- 2/7/11: What's a church's economic worth to its community? Answer: lots! Study tallies 54 different types of contributions http://bit.ly/fsYcle
- 2/3/11: How underchurched is your state, county or city? US & Canada maps with ratio of population to churches http://bit.ly/grIOs9
- 1/27/11: US Muslims number 2.6M today, projected 6.2M by 2030. Globally 1/4 of world population, says today's Pew study http://usat.ly/g1mJXT
- 1/19/11: Updated American Factfinder released, do searches with U.S. census data, www.factfinder2.census.gov. Short virtual tour http://bit.ly/gEgTEc
- 1/10/11: Excellent interactive tool: find unchurched communities, map your area's religious makeup, run custom reports www.thearda.com/DemographicMap (HT)