ABOUT ALICE

My primary motivation for my entire life has been: "there has got to be a better way to live."  To address this, I've learned everything I can about human beings, and about how human beings operate best.  I spent my life researching biology, linguistics, history, archaeology, philosophy, business, religions, theology, sociology, and anthropology.  Even most of my hobbies and recreation address the issue. 

 

Why religion?  Rather than go into a long academic explanation, let me just say that I've found religious traditions to encapsulate the entirety of a culture, how that society operates best as a whole, and how individuals (should ideally) live within it.  In short, I see that religious traditions are humanity's way of addressing the problem, "there has got to be a better way to live."  

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Why small, struggling mainline churches?  I do not look into a crystal ball to see how the next few years will impact mainline churches.  It's not mere speculation to determine that they are the most fragile denominations in North America in the face of rapid change.  My reflections on the situation come from decades of rigorous and continuous focus.  I am an expert in culture, culture change, religions in general, Christianity in particular, small business, and how human beings operate together.  Mainline churches have the deepest theological roots, the most effective communities (in recent history), and yet are in very real danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.  

 

Why Grow+Small Church Consulting?  I am committed to nothing short of saving the small, struggling church.  The next fifteen years will be critical, but I forecast a "settling down" period after the next 20+ years of rapid change.  If your church can survive for one more generation, societal and denominational structures will have time to change enough so your small church "fits" again into the broader context.  Furthermore, churches with solid theology and authentic community who live within their means (even saving and investing funds!) will naturally attract new members.  When you accept smallness, you grow.  Jesus had a few things to say about this.

 

I am a pastor.  I am a business person.  I am an academic.  I am a creator.  

 

I created practical and concrete services for you in Grow+Small Church Consulting.  Not cookie-cutter or method-driven proprietary techniques... but genuine services drawn from deep knowledge and experience.  

 

For you.  Yes, you.  Lay leaders, lay people, baffled clergy, those who want to keep being church amid fear and change.  You.  

 

There is a way.  Let's find it together.