A helpful tool during a time of change is a descriptive lens called “the roller coaster of change.” Such a lens helps observers gather information about what a congregation (or some subgroup within the congregation) is experiencing by measuring where…
Read MoreThe Mystery of Congregations
Those of us with invested interests in congregations—because we work in or for them or because we have invested so much of our time, money, sweat, and hope in them—live with an often unstated or unexamined assumption: of course congregations…
Read MoreCrossing the Digital Divide: New Forms of Community on the Virtual Frontier
Almost exactly 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson took office as President of the United States. Arguably, the major achievement of his presidency occurred two years later when, for $15 million dollars, he secured 800,000 square miles of new territory. That…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Mentoring: Don't Wait to Be Invited
Q: Parish ministry is learned largely through experience. How do I find a mentor to guide and challenge me now that I am out of seminary? My denomination seems more inclined to give me additional study requirements than to provide…
Read MoreAn Island Amidst the Storm: The Search for Congregations with a Soul
Something quite amazing is happening in our day: a culture of religious practice is collapsing. In the Catholic tradition, that collapse has seen a diminution of the obligation that propelled many a Catholic to church on Sunday. In the Protestant…
Read MoreCongregations in the Community: Making an Impact on Public Life
Congregations asked freelance writer ‘Marlis McCollum to interview key leaders in American religion about their perspectives on how congregations make a difference and why they matter. In the first of a two-part serices, Thomas Tewell, Lowell Livezey, Bob Abernathy, and…
Read MoreNurturing Oneself: Can a Pastor's Soul Flourish in the Congregation?
“Your people…are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands, so that I may be glorified.” (Isa. 60:21) “They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do…
Read MoreChanging the Rules of Engagement: Questioning How Technology Shapes Our Lives
It began when our children were around nine and six years old: Lent was the time when the TV would be turned off. Sundays would be a day of reprieve—after all, Sundays are in Lent and not of Lent. I…
Read MoreFinding Links That Matter at Schultz's Deli
It seems the dot-com revolution is coming to the church. Congregations everywhere are rushing to develop interesting Web sites. Denominations strive to connect. And Christian periodicals laud all of these efforts. The ecclesiastical dot-org movement breezily promises great things: vast…
Read MoreThe Cluetrain Manifesto: 95 Theses We Dare Not Ignore
In March 1999, four Webheads nailed 95 theses to the front door of the Internet cathedral and The Cluetrain Manifesto (www.cluetrain.com) was born. The document, authored by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger, is a wake-up call…
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