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 MoreFinding a Niche and Filling It: Congregations in a Postindustrial Economy
Blocked by a towering mega-outlet on one side and encroached on by a big suburban mall on the others, the small church is overwhelmed by retail giants. Its founding pastor was forced to quit. Members left and morale slipped. As…
Read MoreThe Main Thing: Finding Diversity and Joy in "The Work of the People"
These days people want congregations to do many things. Walk into a megachurch like Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and you will find large service counters to help visitors and members find the particular connection they are…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Setting Up An Endowment Fund
Q: My congregation is expecting its first bequest. We would like to use it to establish an endowment fund. A stockbroker in the congregation offered to manage it for us, but we’re wondering if this is wise. We’re also worried…
Read MoreThe Digital Revolution: Changing the “How” of Ministry, Not the “What”
Has the digital revolution changed anything fundamental about ministry? When I entered ministry in 1982, I began by using an array of gadgets taht were not state-of-the-art but were typical of what a congregation of modest means could supply at…
Read MoreThe Spirit Is A-Movin’: Helping Worshipers Find Their Voice
The year is 1931. Visualize St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles: huge Gothic arches, awe-inspiring stained glass windows, massive chandeliers imported from Europe, an organ bellowing music to the heavens, pews filled with Anglo-Saxons dressed in…
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 MoreClergy by the Numbers: Statistics Show It’s Not a Youthful Picture
The numbers of young mainline clergy have declined dramatically in recent decades. The table on page 9 provides a snapshot of age distributions of today’s mainline clergy, and it’s not a youthful picture. The numbers can’t be explained away by…
Read MorePostmodern Worship: Three Views: There’s More To It Than “If You Build It, They Will Come”
Balancing the old with the new is a great challenge for congregations. As church leaders struggle with how to reach the postmodern generation, new and traditional ideas often clash. The tensions are most acutely evident in matters of worship. “It’s…
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…
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