What are congregations actually doing in the way of study, celebration, and action on environmental issues? People have produced many books, study guides, and curricula aimed at teaching congregations about creation care. New ones are being published regularly. Furthermore,…
Read MoreThe Pastor and Pornography
Jeremy felt a roller coaster of emotions in a matter of moments. There was excitement at searching through the scores of erotic pictures that flashed on his computer screen; the thrill of climax; and then shame at having done all of…
Read MoreWhat is a Congregation Worth?
Over the years I have had the privilege of meeting with groups of congregational or civic leaders around the country to talk about the role of congregations in our lives. Often I ask them to imagine what their community’s skyline would…
Read MoreLife After Governance Change
An anthropologist from Pluto might be forgiven for misclassifying board and committee meetings among the sacred rites of Earth religion. Meetings, with their arid liturgy of motions, seconds, minutes, and reports, give comfort and security to some, while driving others…
Read MoreChanging Our Perspective
It had taken awhile—more pastoral visits than I could realistically fit into my schedule, endless committee meetings, strategic lunch, and coffee appointments. But after about three years as Senior Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in downtown Washington, D.C., I was beginning…
Read MoreBeyond Rubber Band Workshops: Finding a More Transformative Way for Continuing Education
I no longer attend continuing education events because I’m tired of rubber band workshops.” A pastor was describing his experience attending events in the past, being stretched and excited by what he heard, only to return home to the tyranny of…
Read MoreChange: Spontaneous or Designed in Advance?
In a time when so many congregations are declining, initiating change generally is spoken of in positive tones. Conversations about how to bring about these changes, however, do not yield as much unanimity. There are two prominent tendencies among the…
Read MoreCongregations Magazine, Issue 2 2011
Alban members receive a subscription to Congregations, our award-winning magazine. Our mission is to provide clergy and lay leaders with practical, research-based information and ideas for effective ministry as they grapple with an ever-changing environment. Congregations is sent quarterly to…
Read MoreLife after Governance Change
An anthropologist from Pluto might be forgiven for misclassifying board and committee meetings among the sacred rites of Earth religion. Meetings, with their arid liturgy of motions, seconds, minutes, and reports, give comfort and security to some, while driving others…
Read MoreHope and Ethnography
In a 2008 commencement address to Duke graduates, novelist Barbara Kingsolver advised a wizened optimism to an audience raised in the Age of Irony, an audience only too well aware that “we’re a world at war, ravaged by disagreements, a…
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