Sometimes, without our prompting, life will alter our pace for us. The birth of a child, a promotion at work, sickness, marriage, divorce, the death of someone we love—these things make us stop in our tracks. All forward motion ceases…
Read MoreWinning Grants: The Case for Faith-Based Organizations
Too often, I run into faith-based organizations that seem embarrassed in the presence of secular funders, as though the faith aspect of their work were a liability. Instead, I think we need to consider why being faith-based is a reason…
Read MoreAlban Web Site Gets a Makeover
We have redesigned Alban’s Web site to keep it timely, fresh, and relevant. On the new site you will find regularly updated and enhanced content on key issues of congregational life as well as information about Alban, our offerings, and…
Read MoreTelling the Better Story
In a stunning article written in 1987, J. Gordon Kingsley, then president of William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, tried to answer the question of what a college president does.1 Naturally, he acknowledged all of the business of leading: the…
Read MoreExperiencing Silence
Silence is hard to find in our culture. Our homes are filled with the whining of kitchen appliances, the clanking of exercise equipment, and the beeping of computers. People carry their own boom boxes. Cars play stereos at top volume….
Read MoreDialogue across Difference: Congregations Talk about Homosexuality
Talking, teaching, and learning about homosexuality at church may seem out of place in an American religious context in which polarized denominational debate about homosexuality regularly leads to newspaper headlines like “Nation’s Churches in Turmoil over Gays,” “Conservative Group Amplifies…
Read MoreThe Clergy Killer Debate
Thoughts on Lloyd Rediger’s Clergy Killers Speed B. Leas Like Lloyd Rediger, I have devoted a good deal of my life to wondering how to respond to difficult, ornery, hostile, or mean-spirited people in congregations. Rediger’s book Clergy Killers: Guidance…
Read MoreAdditional Evaluation Survey Information
Below are the original survey, the complete tabulation of results, and additional charts on evaluation mentioned on page 27. ONLY respond to this survey if you are CURRENTLY employed, as clergy or as lay staff, by a church or synagogue….
Read MoreSermon on the National Disaster
September 16, 2001 15th Sunday after Pentecost Year C Redeem the Time Any preacher who presumes to comment on this week’s tragedy knows silence is the first language that must speak to such anguish. It is a time to let…
Read MoreCongregations and Technology
Choosing and Using Congregation Management Software Nancy Armstrong The Indianapolis Center for Congregations has worked closely with dozens of congregations in selecting computer software as well as hardware and has reviewed and compared more than fifty Congregational Management Software (CMS)…
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