Becoming God's Church

“This stuff is way too churchy!” the marketing director proclaimed as my wife and I sat down to discuss how to tell the community that a new congregation was being formed in Naples, Florida. “Too churchy!” she advised as we…

Read More

Dimensions of Pastoral Authority

After intense years of study and sacrifice, he turned in his last seminary papers. The master of divinity diploma is framed, ready for hanging. Behind him also are the yearly meetings with the denominational committee whose interrogations earnestly and prayerfully…

Read More

The Leading Edge: From Experiments to Movements

by James P. Wind As many readers of Congregations will recall, in 2008, the Alban Institute published a Special Report called Becoming a Pastor: Reflections on the Transition into Ministry. It was the first public report on a decade long initiative, funded…

Read More

Reshaping the Transition into Ministry

A promising set of new experiments has the potential to make a collective impact on the way people enter pastoral ministry in the twenty-first century. The Transition into Ministry initiative (TiM)—an effort funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and participated in…

Read More