This is an invitation to a conversation on the pastoral life from one of America’s most respected clergy. Dean Lueking shares the fruits and foibles of his 50 years in parish minstry, 44 of them in the same congregation, Grace Lutheran in River Forest, Illinois. A lively storyteller, Lueking writes as the wise friend and […]
Faced with crisis, lack of direction, or just plain “stuckness,” many congregations and their leaders are content to deal only with surface issues and symptoms – only to discover that the same problems keep recurring, often in different, and more serious, ways. In The Hidden Lives of Congregations, Christian educator and consultant Israel Galindo takes leaders […]
Alban Senior Consultant Alice Mann draws on her lengthy experience in helping congregations deal with the hurdles and anxieties of expansion or contraction in size. Often, congregations experiencing size change do not recognize the need to change culture and form as part of the successful adaptation process. Mann details the adjustments in attitude – as […]
This report contains an overview of current reports on the status of congregational leadership and outlines the challenges to developing new leadership for congregations. Click here for more information and to download the report (PDF format).
Mead takes a broad look at past and present changes in the church, and postulates a future to which those changes are calling us. Denominations, once structured to deliver resources to far-off lands of foreign mission, now encounter the mission field in the layperson’s workplace and the community surrounding the local congregation. Thus, the church […]
Hobgood examines new pressures on clergy that are emerging in the “post-Christendom era:” financial stresses, the effects of a conflicted and confrontational culture, the needs of an increasing number of people living broken or dependent lives, dysfunctional behavior on the part of pastors and parishioners, questions regarding clergy respect and job satisfaction. How is ministry […]
All too often when a pastor takes up a new assignment or call the same frustrating series of events occurs: everyone experiences a burst of enthusiasm and hope, with Lay people and clergy finding that doors seem to open to new possibilities a few things go wrong, some hopes get dashed, personal differences emerge, old. […]
The conventional wisdom about mainline Protestantism maintains that it is a dying tradition, irrelevant to a postmodern society, unresponsive to change, and increasingly disconnected from its core faith tenets. In her provocative new book, historian and researcher Diana Butler Bass argues that there are signs that mainline Protestant churches are indeed changing, finding a new […]
Worship is the work of the people of God. Patterns of worship shape how we pray and how we live. Despite its centrality to church life, worship is too often taken for granted as something a congregation experiences rather than collectively creates. The Work of the People simply and clearly explains the structure of worship, the actions […]
This one-volume guide to a healthy congregation combines the wisdom of a rabbi with the expertise of an organizational development consultant to demonstrate the power of positive relationships and show how to avoid some of the common traps that can lead to serious conflict. Using the life of the synagogue as its central illustration, this […]