The letter was crystal clear: “You have precipitously dismissed the most valuable member of the church staff. And now you will pay the price.” So it seemed. After 40 years of employment, the choir director at Sunnyvale Church was being…

Burnout is a pressing concern of clergy—perhaps today more than ever before. Exhausted, overwhelmed, and caught up in a vocation that no longer embodies the meaning it once had, a pastor may fear that the clergy life, which once made…

A. Preamble To advance God’s purposes and to build faithful partnerships between our faith community and its staff, this congregation commits itself to making decisions about staff compensation in ways that will ensure that members and church staff people are…

We at the Alban Institute are often asked where the vision is supposed to come from in the life of a congregation. This question is not really a technical issue that can be addressed with a “correct” method. Rather, assumptions…

Spiritual leadership is occurring wherever members of the faith community are weaving new strands of connection between the Source of meaning (as defined by their religious tradition) and their present situation—with all its perils, opportunities, and choices. The act of…

I graduated from college in 1981, not exactly a banner year for mainline Protestantism. More than a decade of numerical decline and internal conflict had taken a toll on old-line denominations as these once-unassailable churches found themselves dethroned as chapels…

In the local cafeteria the other day, I overheard two pastors discussing their salaries. One was a Methodist minister named Melville and the other a Baptist minister named Blake. Pastor Melville was upset. He was 51 years old, had been…

In this era of rapid cultural change and declining church attendance, many Protestant congregations have embarked upon efforts to recreate or redevelop themselves. They want to attract new members, improve their financial status, and increase the participation and enthusiasm of…

In the final moments of the film Jurassic Park III the scientist hero talks with the young boy who dreams of being a scientist. The scientist explains the difference between astronauts and astronomers. He says astronauts accomplish exceptional feats. By…

When I came to serve the West Richmond Friends Meeting in 1993, the church was recovering from a major fight that had resulted in the non-renewal of the pastor’s contract. Two years later, we were shattered by a case of…