by G. Jeffrey MacDonald On a crisp winter morning in 2009, pastors from across the country gathered in Herndon, Virginia to explore how clergy learn—and don’t learn—in the twenty-first century. As it turns out, learning routinely happens in a hodgepodge of…
Read MoreWhat Do I Owe You? The Nature of Exchange within Congregations
by Jeff Kunkel Not long ago, I officiated at the funeral of a young man I did not know well. After the funeral, his mother, whom I had never met, asked me, “What do I owe you?” This is the question…
Read MoreNever Let Money (or the lack of it) Stop You From One of God’s Good Ideas! The Pastoral Residency for Turnaround Ministry
by Mary Louise Gifford In 1953, with its membership over nine hundred people, no one could have predicted the cultural and personal changes that would lead the thriving congregation at Wollaston Congregational Church (WCCUCC) in Quincy, MA, to the gates of…
Read MoreCongregations Magazine, Fall 2010
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 MoreFinding the Optimal Level of Conflict
Every congregation experiences conflict, even though each one does so in unique ways. The sources of conflict may vary from the micro to the macro—from intrapersonal pathologies to personality differences to globalization forces—but over time they are inescapable. Various studies…
Read MoreThe Pastor as Detective
First impressions, those of the new pastor and of the congregation, can make or break a new pastor’s ministry. Zen Buddhists speak of encountering the world with the beginner’s mind, and new pastors need to approach their first congregational call…
Read MoreWhat Is Theological Field Education?
Welcome to theological field education! Field education is an opportunity for you to develop ministry skills, practice ministerial reflection, discern your call, experience professional collegiality, and undergo personal transformation. This is what field education is about—and more. Seminaries and divinity…
Read MoreMake Green a Desert Place
Take something barren and slowly tend it with the right amounts of water, sunlight, and nutrients. In time, green shoots emerge. I have been looking for green shoots lately, what I call Greenhouses of Hope. I have been scanning the…
Read MoreTop Ten Ways Congregations Shape and Are Shaped by Society
Strangers meet on common ground. Dare we assume that strangers bring gifts, not threats? In today’s outside world, we are taught to steer clear of the stranger. “Don’t make eye contact!” But it hasn’t always been this way. In our…
Read MoreSo Where Does the Buck Stop?
Ken Lay and Bernard Ebbers, former CEOs of Enron and Worldcom respectively, tried to tell the world and the courts they didn’t know what was going on in their companies. Contending they were leaders of their organizations, rather than daily…
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