The United States is the most ethnically and culturally diverse nation the world has ever known. It is probably more diverse than the Roman Empire, or any empire in history. In light of this staggering reality, a critical question must…
Read MoreCongregations Magazine, Spring 2008
Join Alban Now Moving Beyond Our Comfort Zones Contents Beyond the Comfort Zone (Members Only Article)Pastor Jin Kim calls us to move beyond our “tribal” natures, discover the richness of diversity, and re-embrace the inclusivity embodied by the…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Searching without Dividing
Q: Our minister has announced his retirement. During his long ministry, we have avoided most of the conflict about homosexuality raging in our national church. How can we look for a minister without dividing our congregation? A: Right now, several…
Read MoreThe Art of the Ask: Getting Good at Fundraising
Many clergy are allergic to money, especially asking for it. But this allergy to fundraising is actually in direct contradiction of our theologies. We act as though incarnational theology was not taught at our seminary. But if we think for…
Read MoreMoving from Assessment to Action: Strategies for Congregational Partnerships with Regional Denominational Structures
The Fairhaven congregation is located in a small town that has had a static population for the past 30 years. A community sustained by light industry, small businesses, a regional hospital, and a few struggling farms, the town is now…
Read MoreBeing Made New: Experiencing the Gifts of Conscious Pastoral Transition
In my mid-fifties, with almost 20 years in parish ministry behind me, I began to think forward to the possibilities inherent in retirement. I was eight years into my ministry as rector of a vigorous and challenging program-sized church when…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Crunching the Numbers
Just as this issue of Congregations went to press, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released the first set of findings from its massive U.S. Religious Landscape Survey 2008 (http://religions.pewforum.org/reports). As I studied the report and tracked its…
Read MoreCENTERview: Analog Thinking in a Digital World
For the past six years, the Center for the Digital Future, housed at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications, has conducted a longitudinal study on the impact of computers, the Internet, and related technologies on families and…
Read MoreFinding a New Way: A Call to Reconceptualize Theological Education
The verdict is in. A growing body of national studies and initiatives all indicate that cultural shifts in society and demographic changes among seminary students demand a reconsideration of how we educate and train people for ecclesial leadership for the…
Read MoreOur New Front Door: How Congregational Web Sites Communicate Church Vision
Jonathan, 28, believes Web sites function like a “front page” for organizations. He notes that his generation surfs the Internet continuously, both during the work day and during leisure hours, and that they would almost never visit a church or…
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