I call it post-sabbatical stress syndrome, or psss. I have it bad and I’m struggling to figure out just what the cure might me. PSSS struck the Day last September when I returned home from a three-month sabbatical, my first…
Read MoreA Novel Kind of Sabbatical: Consider a Home and Ministry Exchange
Okay, I am excited. My congregation has a sabbatical policy, and it’s my turn. But when I bring up the subject for discussion, either at home or at church, the response is always the same: “What is this going to…
Read MoreRediscovering the Point: Congregational Sabbaticals
by Roger Kruger In bestselling British author Terry Pratchett’s book Monstrous Regiment, a magic sword admits to a longing to become a plowshare. “I don’t know what that is,” the sword confesses, “but it sounds like an existence with some point…
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Loren Mead: The importance of the local church
Forty years after starting the Alban Institute, Loren Mead is still convinced that the local church is “where the rubber meets the road.”
Read MoreOur Practice of Havruta
1. “Sorry I’m late,” Rachel announces as she joins her colleagues around the table. “It’s one of those days. I’ve had three difficult situations this morning,” she adds, glancing at her iPhone; “and it’s barely noon.” “Can you afford…
Read MoreMyth-Busting: Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Competence, and the Clergy
Bill sat across from his counselor and recounted the pain of the last eighteen months. After nine years at First Church, he had taken a well-deserved sabbatical to travel, reflect, study, and pray. On his first Sunday back at the…
Read MoreMyth-Busting: Emotional Intelligence, Conflict Competence and the Clergy
Bill sat across from his counselor and recounted the pain of the last eighteen months. After nine years at First Church, he had taken a well-deserved sabbatical to travel, reflect, study, and pray. On his first Sunday back at the…
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Leadership in Scarcity
by Mark Miller-McLemore | My church was located across from an abandoned strip mall and the local “No-Tell Motel,” where drugs and sex were peddled. We worked closely with homeless people through a shelter program in our building. It was a place…
Read MoreSusan Beaumont: Policies, Performance, and Personnel
Most congregations have some version of a personnel committee, or believe that they are supposed to. The practices surrounding these committees vary widely and are driven by denominational polity differences. Denominations use different labels to refer to the human resource…
Read MoreAsk Alban: The Personnel Committee
Q: What is the purpose of a personnel committee, and what is it supposed to do? A: The personnel committee has the potential to be one of the most helpful or most dysfunctional committees at work in the life of…
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