Happy New Year! We begin a fresh year of the Alban Weekly with a look back at the resources that resonated most with Weekly readers. If you feel like you have spent this year continually determining – and determining again…
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Buildings — assets or albatrosses?
One of the trends in congregational life we have been following for a while is how communities of faith relate to buildings. We’ve watched as some congregations deal with the issues that come with aging structures and deferred maintenance. Other…
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Serving the homeless & housing insecure
No doubt you’ve seen the statistics. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in December 2020 that an estimated 14 million adults living in rental housing were behind on their rent. An additional 11.8 million adults lived in households that could not keep up…
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CENTERview: Ten Things You Need to Know about Sacred Space Projects
Buildings communicate. Stained-glass windows, high altars, multipurpose worship-gymnasium spaces, Plexiglas pulpits, padded pews—all these and other architectural elements say something about a congregation’s theology and mission. They point to a faith community’s beliefs about worship, identity, purpose, and more. Sacred…
Read MoreCrossing the Threshold: How a Presbyterian Church and an Independent Synagogue Share Space
In a new book coauthored with her husband, Steve, Washington journalist Cokie Roberts recalls the moment at a highway rest stop when, over an angrily eaten pastry, she forced a choice upon her then-boyfriend: marry me now, or I’m moving…
Read MoreRight-Sizing Your Space or Right-Sizing Your Vision?
“Do you provide architectural services and can you help us ‘right-size’ our church facilities?” This question was posed to the Alban Institute by an inquiring congregation. While Alban typically has not provided such services, the Institute invited Roger L. Patterson,…
Read MoreThe Leading Edge: Space Matters
A recent visit to Independence Hall in Philadelphia reminded me of how much space matters. Standing in the room where our nation was invented, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed, and where the Constitution was hammered out,…
Read MoreLeaking Gutters and Sacred Spaces: Practical Tips for Facility Repair
First Baptist Church of Cumberland, Indiana, had a gutter and roof problem. At least that’s what the trustees thought. They knew they had storm damage, and during the past few winters they had noticed that ice was backing up. This…
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