A Lead Consultant with Ministry Architects, Melissa Rau has worked in a number of different roles in different denominations for 20+ years. Melissa serves as Director of Institutional Advancement at Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago and is the host of the For People with Bishop Rob Wright podcast. She is an engaging speaker and workshop presenter, and she’s a trained coach and conflict transformation specialist. She’s passionate about helping folks understand their baptism and living into their call as a baptized Christian more fully. Melissa is currently earning her M.Div from the General Theological Seminary in NYC. Originally hailing from Pennsylvania, she and her husband—an Episcopal priest—have lived in Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, and now reside in Florida. They have three kids in college and high school. Melissa is particularly fond of giraffes and the color orange.
Many churches with which I’ve worked, especially those doing ministry in small churches that don’t have a very strong presence of young people, find themselves wondering what more they could do to attract youth. They recognize the benefits of having youthful energy and long for a thriving youth ministry. Why? Perhaps they feel like a…
Recently I’ve become bothered by a common theme I’ve encountered among many program-sized and smaller corporate-sized churches (whose average Sunday attendance is between 150-600 people). These are churches that are typically well staffed, with at least one full-time clergyperson and many times two or more. They have either completed a successful capital campaign in the…
There I was, sitting across a desk from an eager youth pastor (I’ll call her Cindy). We had just spent a few days with her church and prepared a youth ministry assessment report. The presentation went over like gangbusters. People were excited because we put a plan together to help them put effective systems and…