We all know pastors who are burned out from the stresses of 2020 and 2021. Maybe we are willing to say, “I am burned out” — but I wonder if it would help us to think about a congregation being burned out. A Harvard…
Read More
Top 5 Alban resources of 2021
Happy New Year! We begin a fresh year of the Alban Weekly with a look back at the resources that resonated most with Weekly readers. If you feel like you have spent this year continually determining – and determining again…
Read More
Who is with you this Advent?
Advent is one of a few times each year when a pastor sees the full range of people who are engaged with the congregation. Even those with the most distant connections show up to Christmas services. But is that happening…
Read More
Searching for a pastor is sacred work
Clergy know the long periods of silence between contacts from a pastor search committee. Congregation members know the even-longer period between substantive reports about the activities of a search committee. The members of such committees are very, very busy —…
Read More
Budgets matter
The process of deciding a budget sets priorities for the year. Yet the process can be routine and boring. How can the conversations be livelier, more Spirit-inspired? “Let’s Talk About Resources” — part of Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s “Shifting Ground”…
Read More
Creation care & congregational life
Creation care should be an urgent preaching, teaching and pastoral priority for all of our congregations. In this Weekly, we explore how congregations and other faith-based organizations participate in protecting the planet. In our current ecological crisis, theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim…
Read More