For the most part, my first 11 years as a senior pastor were wonderful years. Of course no pastor is without critics, but the criticism I faced was sporadic and easy enough to put behind me. This changed drastically in…
Read MoreSpeaking the Truth in Love
“Almost every time we at the Alban Institute are asked to help a congregation, people will tell us that the problem is ‘communication,’” Loren Mead once wrote. Congregations complain that people do not seem to know the information they need,…
Read MoreWho Is Robert, Anyway? And Why Do We Think We Have to Follow His Rules?
After leading a church meeting, Henry Robert, a trustee of First Baptist Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, came home feeling frustrated, discouraged, and even a bit embarrassed. He had been a trustee for some time, but this was the first…
Read MoreMyth-Busting: Challenging the Notion of Emotional and Interpersonal Deficits in Candidates for Ministry
Over the past two decades a variety of observers have raised concerns about perceived clergy ineffectiveness in managing conflict or change. The application of family systems thinking has brought a new awareness of the role that family-of-origin “baggage” plays in…
Read MoreConnecting Faith to Works: Strategies for Working with Faith-Based Organizations
Faith communities have always provided for those in need in the United States, founding hospitals, social service agencies, and other organizations. While congregations continue to contribute to this work today through volunteerism, donations, and spiritual support for those involved in…
Read MoreCharles Darwin Goes to Church: A Literature Guide to the Evolution versus Intelligent Design Debate
When the “Answers in Genesis”-sponsored Creation Museum opened near Lexington, Kentucky in June 2007 amid much fanfare, protest, and even a bit of ridicule, SoMA Review editor John Spalding wrote tongue-in-cheek that he hadn’t realized—until that moment—that there were dinosaurs…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Pastors Have Lives!
A special privilege that comes with my work is the opportunity to meet and get to know a sizable number of pastors and rabbis. Whether these encounters have been only for a portion of a day or have stretched over…
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CENTERview: Ten Things You Need to Know about Sacred Space Projects
Buildings communicate. Stained-glass windows, high altars, multipurpose worship-gymnasium spaces, Plexiglas pulpits, padded pews—all these and other architectural elements say something about a congregation’s theology and mission. They point to a faith community’s beliefs about worship, identity, purpose, and more. Sacred…
Read MoreChurch for the 21st Century: National Cathedral Event Helps Launch “New Reformation”
As the Rev. Stephen Baden arrived at the Washington National Cathedral for a conference on the future of the church, he carried a burden that other pastors would call “a good problem.” The group of “nomadic seekers” attending an alternative…
Read MoreChurch for the 21st Century: National Cathedral Event Helps Launch "New Reformation"
By Topper Sherwood As the Rev. Stephen Baden arrived at the Washington National Cathedral for a conference on the future of the church, he carried a burden that other pastors would call “a good problem.” The group of “nomadic seekers”…
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