Christian leaders traffic in hope, but we must keep a few things in mind as we provide guidance to people who are trying to reconcile faith in a loving God with an experience of agony.
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Hospitality for the unhoused
The gospel provides a clear mandate to offer concrete acts of compassion to people on the economic and social margins of society. Today, unhoused people comprise a sizeable number of this struggling demographic. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…
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Is your congregation burned out?
We all know pastors who are burned out from the stresses of 2020 and 2021. Maybe we are willing to say, “I am burned out” — but I wonder if it would help us to think about a congregation being burned out. A Harvard…
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Churches and mental health
As we cross the threshold into another year of a global pandemic, the stress is palpable. We all want to be resilient, but resilience is becoming more difficult. For church leaders, the call to action is clear: Congregations must not underestimate…
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Are you just tired – or burning out?
A group of ministers told me about a senior pastor they knew who resigned because the demands of ministry had become too much. This was not the first person they knew personally who resigned this year. Such sudden exits make…
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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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Caring for those with mental health diagnoses
Faith communities play a vital role in responding to the mental health crises that impact our communities. This was true before the COVID pandemic, but it is especially true now. In this week’s Weekly, we begin with an article by…
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How do we care for congregational leaders?
In recent years, a particular focus of Alban has been the health and wellbeing of congregational leaders. In this edition of the Weekly, Jessica Young Brown offers us suggestions for how to care for pastors who are experiencing secondary trauma because of…
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Creative community-based ministries
Happy Tuesday – and welcome to a new design for the Alban Weekly! In this week’s edition, we’ll find inspiration in the stories of three congregations that have developed enterprising ministries to meet the evolving needs of their communities. We’ll…
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Dorie Jones: Ministry in Times of Crisis
The church has an invaluable role to play in times of crisis, writes an expert in crisis response.
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