Changing the Conversation: Nurturing a Third Way for Congregations

Contents

Changing the Conversation
Noted preacher, speaker, and author Anthony B. Robinson offers 10 conversations he believes congregations need to have to learn what it means to be church in the 21st century and to take on the work that God has given them in these times of change

Lost and Found
Michael B. Ross, founder and director of the Pastors Institute, tells the moving story of his passage from living through a call that was frozen in time to one that has come alive to speak to him in new and ever-evolving ways

Navigating Congregational Identity
Andrew Warner and Bridget Flad, senior and associate ministers of Plymouth United Church of Christ in Milwaukee, describe the gifts of grace that have become available to their congregation as they have confronted the struggle of discerning their identity and mission amid shifting cultures, demographics, and traditions

Journey to Jerusalem
Elizabeth Magill, project administrator for the Episcopal Divinity School’s Pastoral Excellence Project and the former pastor of Bethany Christian United Parish, a United Church of Christ congregation in Massachusetts, tells how she and her congregation found grace, healing, and resurrection in the conscious death of their church

Giving Up the Myth
Pastor and consultant Sharon Wilson tells the story of how her congregation transformed itself into a vibrant place of mission and faith through confronting the reality that they weren’t who they claimed to be

COLUMNS

The Leading Edge
In recognition of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Alban Institute president James Wind reflects on the many ways in which this early congregation was influential in setting the American experiment in motion

Ask Alban
Alban consultant Lawrence Peers provides insight into why the changes we make in our congregations don’t always stick

DEPARTMENTS

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