Not too many years ago, I found myself squarely on the “hot seat.” I was a board member attending a meeting where the question before us was whether to keep or fire the chief executive. The board had listened to…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Is it Wise to Hire Members?
Q: I am on the personnel committee of my church.We expect to fill two staff positions soon, and wonder what our policy should be about accepting applications from members of the congregation. A: When hiring staff, congregation leaders often ask…
Read MoreBecoming God's Church: A New Congregation Finds its Place in God's Unfolding Story
“This stuff is way too churchy!” the marketing director proclaimed as my wife and I sat down to discuss how to tell the community that a new congregation was being formed in Naples, Florida. “Too churchy!” she advised as we…
Read MoreUnlocking Divine Sparks: Creative Approaches to Decision-Making in the Spiritual Life of a Community
“In beginnings, worlds are created. In creativity, meanings are formed” 1 In the Jewish mystical tradition, each human being is viewed as a creative spark awaiting more kindling on his or her soul journey. In the Hebrew Bible, the very…
Read MoreRe-creating Congregational Stories: Insights from Narrative Therapy
There is a growing recognition, in many disciplines, of the capacity stories have to influence, limit, expand, and nurture life on the personal, religious, and organizational level. In congregations, narrative often pervades our way of being together. Whether through Torah…
Read MoreReframing as Spiritual Change: Transforming Hopelessness into Wholeness
Last spring I led a clergy conference for an Episcopal diocese on the topic of cultural change, Christianity, and postmodernism. During one session I explained the shift in American society from a single voice of authority to multiple voices and…
Read MoreWhen Narrative Identities Clash: Liberals versus Evangelicals
If there is one thing North American Christians at the beginning of the 21st century think they understand it is the divide between liberal and evangelical in the church. Polarized ecclesiastical publications tell their stories from the left or from…
Read MoreComing Out—Liberal and Evangelical:
In seminary I knew I was different, but I didn’t have a name for what I was. I was the product of an unusual union of Christian traditions, and this left me feeling out of place. My early faith formation…
Read MoreWelcoming the "Other": What Pastors and Congregations Can Do to Support Ecumenical Marriages
In American religious life today there is an upsurge of “church-hopping”—laity moving their membership from one denomination to another. Married couples do not always make this move together, however. A couple who began their marriage within the same denomination may…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Pastors' Untold Stories: A Silence that Begs to Be Broken
A new book by Dean R. Hoge and Jacqueline E. Wenger probes a painful topic that touches many American congregations. Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry (Eerdmans, 2005) seeks to shed some light on a situation that…
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