First, a few questions. Why is it important to think about sacred space? Given the dire problems facing humanity, including war, terrorism, hunger, poverty, and AIDS, isn’t it beside the point to be spending much time, energy, imagination and, yes,…
Read More2001 Leadership Survey: What Alban Institute Members Say about Leadership
In late 2001, 200 Alban Institute members responded to a poll asking them to share their insights on the state of leadership in American congregations. Eighty-three percent of the respondents were clergy, with both an average and median of 20…
Read MoreAsk Alban: A New Approach to Recruiting Volunteers
Q: My congregation is struggling to find strong candidates to replace “retiring” and burned-out volunteers. No pool of applicants is waiting at the door. In my generation, many of us were “grabbed by the collar” and yanked into volunteering. How…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Potholes on the Road to Vitality
Never does a congregation have more at stake than when it selects its next minister or rabbi. No congregation—large or small, rich or poor—can escape this turning point when the future seems fragile and malleable. For each faith community a…
Read MoreStewardship Is More Than Money—It’s Your Life!
In one of Jack Benny’s most memorable comedy routines, a thief accosted him, demanding: “Your money or your life!” After a typically long pause, and at the insistence of the hold-up man, Benny finally responded testily: “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”…
Read MoreDysfunction, Unfaithfulness, or Human Frailty? How to Understand the Difference in Your Congregation
I often read discussions about the dynamics of congregational life, learning from the perspectives experts offer to help us understand what happens in relations among the people of God. I listen with empathic pain to colleagues who feel pushed to…
Read MoreWhere Are We Now? A Leadership Report Update
It has now been more than a year since the Alban Institute released The Leadership Situation Facing American Congregations, a special report that was a year in the writing. Since that time, many people across a broad denominational spectrum have…
Read MoreTwo Measures of Emotional Competence
There are few instruments available that claim to measure emotional intelligence and that have established validity and reliability among psychologists. At our career center we are currently using the Bar-On EQ-i, an appropriate instrument for the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, missionary,…
Read MoreEmotional Intelligence and Leadership
Why do so many cognitively intelligent pastors and other leaders flounder, while many of lesser intelligence enjoy success? The widespread push for achievement in the 20th century often asserted the basic importance of cognitive intelligence, yet we see that people…
Read MoreThe Myth of Competence
Excellence does not require perfection.—Henry James The Rev. Susan Finster stood at the back of the church greeting her parishioners at the end of her first “real” sermon at her first “real” parish. After seven years as an associate pastor…
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