The church I attend finally took the plunge last fall: our newsletter now comes by e-mail. Budget cuts made what had been unthinkable seem plausible. But plausible is not the same as right. How can we evaluate the costs and…
Read MoreReviews, Congregations, Winter 2010
In the Beginning, God: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life By Marva J. Dawn Marva Dawn is an independent scholar who has established herself as a significant voice on numerous contemporary matters, including Sabbath and sexuality, powers and principalities, pastoring…
Read MoreNew & Noteworthy, Winter 2010
Strategic Leadership for a Change: Facing Our Losses, Finding Our Future Kenneth J. McFayden AL392; $17.00 Strategic Leadership for a Change is a valuable resource for congregations as significant change occurs both within and beyond their walls. When this…
Read MoreFrom the Editor, Congregations, Winter 2010
It’s been two years since the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that the U.S. had entered a recession. It’s no secret that the economic downturn has affected us all—individuals, families, businesses, and communities—but the Alban Institute and the Lake…
Read MoreWinter 2010 Reading Recommendations from the Congregational Resource Guide
Clawson, Julie. Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009). Grounded in a theology that defines justice as “the practical outworking of loving God and others,” Everyday Justice helps us understand the ethical…
Read MoreNew & Noteworthy, Winter 2010
Strategic Leadership for a Change: Facing Our Losses, Finding Our Future Kenneth J. McFayden AL392; $17.00 Strategic Leadership for a Change is a valuable resource for congregations as significant change occurs both within and beyond their walls. When this…
Read MoreCongregations Magazine, Winter 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 MoreCENTERview: Small Is Beautiful
People don’t realize we’ve been doing ‘small group ministry’ for 150 years!” This comment from the leader of one of the many small congregations across the country got a laugh from the ministerial association of a small southern Indiana town,…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Visioning: Creating a Shared Picture of the Future
Q: Should we take the time to hold a retreat to create a vision statement? A: Synagogue leaders have heard that organizations need a vision, strategies, and goals, but they often are not sure what they should do next. Observers…
Read MoreWhat to Keep, What to Cut: Reshaping Budgets in Times of Adversity
Like many congregations and organizations with an endowment, at the beginning of 2009 Western Presbyterian Church faced a painful situation. Despite our endowment outperforming the market benchmarks by six points, it had suffered a huge loss of value in the…
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