A recent phone conversation with a pastor revealed a unique ministry. The pastor told me about their “teacher’s group.” “Do you mean your Sunday School teachers?” I asked. She explained “No, this is our group of elementary public school teachers….
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Spiritual Dissonance: When Conflict between Clergy and Congregation Is about Vocation
by Diane J. Strickland Some years ago I attended a worship service in which the organist played the music for one anthem while the choir opened their music and sang a completely different one. At first it sounded like the performance…
Read MoreSeparation Anxiety
Pastors say good-bye to congregations. Sometimes our good-byes are timely and sweet; sometimes they are jarring and painful. But as we hear the click of the front door of God’s house and stand on the sidewalk, we face a unique…
Read MoreHealthy Practices for Practicing Balance
Achieving a healthy work-life balance eventually comes down to personal responsibility and discipline. We must make the right choices, and our choices must be influenced by our attitudes and values. Behaviors that flow from our deeply held beliefs help us…
Read MoreFinding the Right Blend of Action and Contemplation in Ministry
Recently I met with a congregational search committee that was deadlocked in its discernment of the qualities needed for its next pastor. A segment of this progressive congregation saw social activism as a necessity for its pastoral leadership. One of…
Read MoreCelebrating Vocation in Worship
The church teaches that all people are gifted by their Creator and called by the Holy Spirit to offer themselves in service as a way of giving thanks for all that God has done and continues to do for us…
Read MoreAnswering in Unison: How Six Congregations Supported the Called
The Alban Institute has been interested for some time in the connections that exist between active participation in a congregation and what people do in the world. Specifically, we wanted to know how participation in a congregation assists people in…
Read MoreRediscovering the Point: Congregational Sabbaticals
by Roger Kruger In bestselling British author Terry Pratchett’s book Monstrous Regiment, a magic sword admits to a longing to become a plowshare. “I don’t know what that is,” the sword confesses, “but it sounds like an existence with some point…
Read MoreBecoming a Clergy Mother: A Study of How Motherhood Changes Ministry
by Pamela Cooper-White Images of birth have long held power and meaning in Christian theology. Indeed, the sacrament of baptism has birth as its central metaphor. What more powerful image of the flowering of human sexuality into birth than the ritual…
Read MoreSupport and Solidarity: How Clergywomen Create Healthy Connections
by Melissa Bane Sevier In Knoxville, Tennessee, several women meet in a restaurant and open gifts of candles in spring colors. They look like any other group of women friends having lunch together, but their day jobs separate them from the…
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