Q: Ever since our congregation was divided over a conflict some years ago, I have this sense that we now avoid conflict at all costs. I’m sure that this impacts our own vitality as a congregation, but I’m not sure how…
Read MoreReading Recommendations, Congregations 2012 Issue 4
Albers, Robert H., William H. Meller, and Steven D. Thurber, Editors.Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012). Eighteen psychiatrists and pastoral theologians collaborate to provide recent information about mental illness, to interpret mental illness…
Read MoreBuilding Capital: Securing the Funds to Start and Sustain a Program
Every new business venture starts with great enthusiasm, but many soon fail. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that three out of ten new businesses fail within two years, and only half survive five years. Experts cite numerous reasons for…
Read MoreNew Experiments in Clergy Training
Over the last decade a few dozen churches, employing various models unique to their own church cultures, have been pioneering and experimenting with the practice of training clergy. Other models sponsored by denominations or local judicatories have used congregations in…
Read MoreTraining Wheels
by Kathy Smith Recently, while walking our dogs in the neighborhood, my husband and I saw a girl and her mother riding their bikes. Clothed in helmets and reflective jackets they approached us on the sidewalk. The girl rode a bike…
Read MoreTo Pew, or Not to Pew, That Is the Question
by Donna SchaperPews are where most people sit to worship in old-line Protestantism. They are valuable as antiques, averaging $1,000 each in funky marketplaces. They tend to be uncomfortable, although The Comfortable Pew was the title of a once-popular Protestant book….
Read MoreWhat’s the Problem?
The senior minister at First Church was actually looking forward to the weekly staff meeting. For some time the staff had been tip-toeing around problems with the traditional worship service, and today they were going to address the problem head…
Read MoreHow Your Congregation Learns
Congregations, or perhaps more precisely, congregational leaders, need to learn new skills all the time. Such are the demands on congregational life. What do you do when your congregation either needs or chooses to do something new? Perhaps your congregation…
Read MoreLearning from (Dis)ability
On July 26, Mark I. Pinsky will receive a Justice for All Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities. The award, which recognizes individuals who have proven to be extraordinary champions in advancing the goals of the ADA,…
Read MoreTransformational Task Forces: Leading Congregations Away from Minefields
by N. Graham Standish When I was an associate pastor, I witnessed first-hand how a congregation with everything going for it could let its own growth lead to decline. We think of church growth as a good thing, as a self-perpetuating…
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