Evaluating work is about as easy as getting a mosquito out of a bedroom at 3 a.m. in July. It is also as necessary. Without evaluation, we institutionalize performance uncertainty. The worker, the work, and the church suffer. Call it…
Read MoreStepping Off the High Dive: How Using a Facilitator Improves the Evaluation Process
Performance evaluations are an essential part of our seasonal life at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Chicago. This was not always so. Nine years ago, when I began my tenure as priest-in-charge, the church had $23,000 in pledge income, $78,000…
Read MoreBeyond the Church Parking Lot: Finding Better Ways to Evaluate Clergy
How many churches regularly evaluate their ministers? The answer, according to those who know churches, is “all of them.” “There’s an awful lot of evaluation that goes on in parking lots,” said Jackson Carroll, Williams professor emeritus of religion and…
Read MoreA Pathway for Learning
Picture a group of clergy chatting in a church parking lot after a regional meeting. The conversation is laced with humor, pastoral “war stories,” and genuine accounts of spiritual vitality in the congregations they serve. Then one pastor mentions that…
Read MoreKey Dimensions of Healthy Partnerships
At the core of healthy partnerships between lay leaders, clergy, and staff is a set of processes that characterize their attitudes and behaviors in relation with one another. These processes show up in daily interactions—in how people treat and work…
Read MoreCalling All the Baptized: Innovative Governance Structures Cultivate Members’ Ministries
by Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook Washington County, a rural region in the state of Maine, is the first area in the United States to see the sunrise every morning. The small towns that inhabit the Atlantic coastline were traditionally supported by seasonal…
Read MoreCreating the Conditions for New Pastors’ Success
Two classmates graduate from seminary. Each has done well academically, and received glowing recommendations from the faculty. Each was affirmed by a field placement parish during the seminary experience. And each performed well amid the challenges of clinical pastoral education….
Read More“We Touched Grace”: Spiritual Dimensions of Conflict Transformation
By Jean E. Greenwood When we are entangled in conflict, it is difficult to fathom that anything in the situation could be transformed, much less that there are spiritual dimensions to it. Yet I have worked with and lived with…
Read MoreHow Sound is Your Congregation’s Budget? Take the Test
Congregations — like most organizations — face the ongoing challenge of how best to balance their income and expenses. Gauge how your congregation compares to best practices while deciding how much to spend on facilities, staff compensation and programs. Dan…
Read MoreHow Well Do You Keep ‘Sabbath Time’?
In their book The Spiritual Leader’s Guide to Self-Care, Rochelle Melander and Harold Eppley offer a quick checklist to help readers examine how well they keep “sabbath time.” Check each statement that is true for you: __ I always take…
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