Author Luther K. Snow begins all of his workshops backwards. Right at the beginning of his Alban Institute workshop on asset mapping, Snow told the participants what the outcome would be. “You can only learn what you already know,” he…

“But it worked so well in my last congregation!” A key challenge for congregational leaders in moving from one congregation to another is to build on lessons learned in an earlier call while being alert to the new adaptive challenges…

“Something is happening right now, but it’s not what we think,” asserted Diana Butler Bass, director of the Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice, during Alban’s The Practicing Congregation workshop in 2004 During a time when the story about mainline…

Change seems to be one of the few constants in today’s world. Change comes whether we welcome it—or attempt to avoid or stop it. How does change impact congregations? Gil Rendle, an Alban Institute senior consultant, has written: “The driving…

If reports are true that Americans spend more time at work than anyone in the industrialized world, what role might congregations play in supporting their members’ work lives? Here are several ideas that might help your congregation begin imaging its…

“EQ is not destiny—emotional intelligence is a different way of being smart. It includes knowing your feelings and using them to make good decisions; managing your feelings well; motivating yourself with zeal and persistence; maintaining hope in the face of…

As congregations gear back up for the increased demands of their fall schedules, their clergy leaders often find themselves also dealing with increased stress. A quick survey of resources related to clergy stress reveals that some of the key contributors…

In their book The Spiritual Leader’s Guide to Self-Care, Rochelle Melander and Harold Eppley offer a quick checklist to help readers examine how well they keep “sabbath time.” Check each statement that is true for you: __ I always take…

The decline and revitalization of Protestantism has been a hot topic for several decades. Some point to the move away from Protestantism as the majority faith affiliation in the United States as evidence that the mainline church (and, in some…