The process of deciding a budget sets priorities for the year. Yet the process can be routine and boring. How can the conversations be livelier, more Spirit-inspired? “Let’s Talk About Resources” — part of Lake Institute on Faith & Giving’s “Shifting Ground”…
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It was William Bridges who helpfully named that there is a difference between change and transition — change is situational, whereas transition is psychological. Change can happen in a moment, but transition — adapting to that change — lasts much longer. In…
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“If your vision is ambitious, you will always need more staff than you can afford, no matter what resources you have at your disposal.” So says Dan Hotchkiss, a former Alban senior consultant and now one of the consultants of…
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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have learned a great deal more about the inequities and injustices in American society. As in-person life resumes in much of the country, we are forced to ask how we will live and…
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It’s been our core work at Alban for more than four decades now — strengthening congregations by supporting and equipping their leaders for the challenges and opportunities before them. This week, we pause our look at the future for hybrid…
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One of the changes that the pandemic has brought to many congregations is that geographic proximity is no longer a primary factor in determining who participates in our congregational life. A family-sized congregation reports that former members who moved across the country…
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Early in the pandemic, the question I heard most from congregational leaders around the United States and from the members of my own congregation in North Carolina was, “When will things get back to normal?” As days of sheltering at home became…
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A year ago, I made the jump from pastoring a local church to running a center at a small denominationally-affiliated college. While I was well-versed in the conversations around church vitality, the world of higher education has been relatively new…
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Last fall, I counted down the days to the big MacBook Pro reveal, but now here I sit, typing away on my 5-year-old laptop. While boasting of making the laptop millimeters thinner and ounces lighter, they loaded it with an…
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Reclaiming how we use our time in ministry is an important theological concern, writes a pastor and theologian
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