Picture a group of clergy chatting in a church parking lot after a regional meeting. The conversation is laced with humor, pastoral “war stories,” and genuine accounts of spiritual vitality in the congregations they serve. Then one pastor mentions that…
Read MoreBeyond the Church Parking Lot: Finding Better Ways to Evaluate Clergy
How many churches regularly evaluate their ministers? The answer, according to those who know churches, is “all of them.” “There’s an awful lot of evaluation that goes on in parking lots,” said Jackson Carroll, Williams professor emeritus of religion and…
Read MoreStepping Off the High Dive: How Using a Facilitator Improves the Evaluation Process
Performance evaluations are an essential part of our seasonal life at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Chicago. This was not always so. Nine years ago, when I began my tenure as priest-in-charge, the church had $23,000 in pledge income, $78,000…
Read More360-Degree Assessment: Performance Evaluation From Every Angle
Evaluating work is about as easy as getting a mosquito out of a bedroom at 3 a.m. in July. It is also as necessary. Without evaluation, we institutionalize performance uncertainty. The worker, the work, and the church suffer. Call it…
Read MoreEvaluating Lay Participation: Monitoring and Reversing Troubling Trends
Most Christians in mainline denominations know that attendance and giving patterns are in trouble. But they are less mindful that churches are also experiencing declining levels of lay participation in spiritual practices. Why are these trends significant—and worth keeping an…
Read MoreWhat Our Members Say About Evaluation
We sent an e-mail in early January to 4,122 Alban Institute members to ask about how frequently both they and their congregation’s program of ministry were evaluated and how helpful this was. 628 members currently employed as clergy or lay…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Beyond the Heroic
We love our heroes. In every age people have longed for them and, when they found one, lifted the heroic one up in celebration. Whether we think of Moses or King David, Hercules or Odysseus, Napoleon or George Washington, Michael…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Church Growth: Shifting Your Leadership Style
Q: I am pastor of a growing 200-member congregation—more than a full-time job! Our governing board is pressing for even more emphasis on “church growth.” As we outgrow our present “cozy” size, what changes should we anticipate? Will I have…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Preventing Burnout in Board Members
Q: When I was elected to my congregation’s board, I thought I would have a more meaningful connection to the work of the congregation. Instead, I find myself dreading the meetings, which tend to focus on “brick-and-mortar” issues more than…
Read MoreThe Marks of a Healthy Congregation
Consultant Terry Foland has concluded that 12 areas of congregational life are significant in determining a congregation’s health. Within each category are the challenging questions he suggests that church leaders ask themselves as they embark on the process of congregational…
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