I love a good story. Virgilio Elizondo, a Roman Catholic priest and professor of theology, passionately tells the story of his life on the border of two cultures in his book The Future Is Mestizo: Life Where Cultures Meet. Elizondo…
Read MoreQuestions To Ask An Architect
Describe your firm (personnel, size and experience of the organization). What memberships do you hold in professional organizations? Awards received? What schools were attended by the staff and what general training requirements are expected of the staff? What is your…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Mediation Teams and Church Conflict
Q: Our congregation has had several conflicts, major and minor, in 10 years. We can’t continue this way. How can we break the pattern of conflict? A: I hate the destructive results of conflicts. People and congregations get hurt. Few…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Space Matters
A recent visit to Independence Hall in Philadelphia reminded me of how much space matters. Standing in the room where our nation was invented, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed, and where the Constitution was hammered out,…
Read MoreWhen Consensus Fails
In seminary I learned always to work for consensus. Likewise, I learned never to take a vote. There is nothing wrong with voting when a discussion has brought differences to the surface. Still, consensus—the group “nod” that means we know…
Read MoreEvaluation as Collaborative Inquiry
Before planning the third season of a hospitality project, St. Paul’s minister of outreach suggests at a committee meeting that an evaluation might help the group to make improvements for the upcoming year. Committee members nod in agreement. One enthusiastic…
Read MoreRight-Sizing Your Space or Right-Sizing Your Vision?
“Do you provide architectural services and can you help us ‘right-size’ our church facilities?” This question was posed to the Alban Institute by an inquiring congregation. While Alban typically has not provided such services, the Institute invited Roger L. Patterson,…
Read MoreSustaining Sacred Places by Telling Their Stories
U.S. Highway 1, known locally as Roosevelt Boulevard, cuts a nine-mile swath through the heart of northeast Philadelphia. Since its initial construction in 1902, the boulevard has beckoned Philadelphians away from the core city—step by step and new neighborhood by…
Read MoreCrossing the Threshold: How a Presbyterian Church and an Independent Synagogue Share Space
In a new book coauthored with her husband, Steve, Washington journalist Cokie Roberts recalls the moment at a highway rest stop when, over an angrily eaten pastry, she forced a choice upon her then-boyfriend: marry me now, or I’m moving…
Read MoreLeaking Gutters and Sacred Spaces: Practical Tips for Facility Repair
First Baptist Church of Cumberland, Indiana, had a gutter and roof problem. At least that’s what the trustees thought. They knew they had storm damage, and during the past few winters they had noticed that ice was backing up. This…
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