In the November 28, 2011 Alban Weekly (“Measuring Size and Complexity,” adapted from Inside the Large Congregation), Susan Beaumont asserts that understanding the capacity limits of a congregation’s systems can involve more than measuring the average weekly attendance at worship—particularly when a congregation grows in size.
What other factors add complexity to a congregation’s leadership systems? Beaumont discusses six: the size of the operating budget; the level of affluence; the presence of midweek ministries; the building’s size and function; the addition of worship venues and sites; and the operation of affiliated nonprofits. While these factors do not negate the impact of weekend worship attendance, they do call attention to the need for properly aligning a congregation’s systems. As Beaumont points out, “When stress within one of the systems begins to make itself felt, leaders must attend to shifts in the other systems as well.”
What resources might support you in understanding and aligning your congregation’s leadership systems? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Leadership Without Easy Answers; Perspectives on Congregational Leadership: Applying Systems Thinking for Effective Leadership; and The Practice of Adaptive Leadership.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you.
In “Rethinking Ourselves as Preachers” (the November 21, 2011 Alban Weekly, adapted from Choosing the Kingdom: Missional Preaching for the Household of God), Episcopal priest and seminary professor John Addison Dally examines the challenges clergy face when they are expected to be experts but not “act like” experts—particularly when it comes to interpreting Scripture or exploring life’s theological meanings. Such expectations, believes Dally, have repercussions for laity—who are often diminished by what he calls the “continued pattern of raising up a caste of professional clergy, and educating and paying for them.”
Dallly attempts to move the faithful beyond this “clergy-as-expert” mindset and towards a more missional framework that calls upon the gifts of all the baptized. At the same time, he holds that a powerful tool for effecting such movement is the pulpit.
What resources might support you and your congregation in moving toward a more missional framework—or in considering how preaching affects mission? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these resources annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: The Missional Church and Denominations: Helping Congregations Develop a Missional Identity; “Preaching Today: Sorting It Out“; and Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
The November 14, 2011 Alban Weekly (“Wisdom from Loren Mead“) honors the legacy of the Alban Institute’s founder and president emeritus. On the twentieth anniversary of Mead’s insightful and seminal work, The Once and Future Church, this article draws excerpts from Mead’s highly engaging tome, plus two succeeding volumes: Transforming Congregations for the Future and Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church.
Mead’s assertion that “We need churches with a new consciousness of themselves and their task” may ring even truer today that it did when first published in 1991. Also true today may be Mead’s articulation of five challenges facing mainline congregations in the mid-1990s: to transfer ownership of the church; to discover new structures for the church; to discover a passionate spirituality; to make the church a new community and source of community; and to become an apostolic people.
While I ordinarily list resources to supplement and support ideas presented in Alban Weekly articles, this week I invite you instead to dig more deeply and think more profoundly about Mead’s thoughts and hopes for congregations. How much do they continue to ring true—or not—in your estimation?
We look forward to hearing from you.
“Claiming Your Leader’s Voice” (the November 7, 2011 Alban Weekly, adapted from Starting with Spirit: Nurturing Your Call to Pastoral Leadership) challenges the seminarian and new or future pastor to develop “active voices”—by learning to ask such key questions as these: “What do I think of this [reading assignment]?” and “How will I translate this to a congregation?” Author Bruce Epperly goes on to note that practicing an active voice is part of the pastoral imagination essential to creative ministry. Other parts include reflecting on—and updating—one’s personal credo annually, as well as asking what difference one’s beliefs make in life.
Epperly contends that spiritual disciplines—and taking responsibility for one’s spiritual life—are central to the important task of learning what he calls the “rhythm of pastoral leadership.” An effective minister must be intentional about her or his schedule and priorities, and this intentionality requires balancing ministerial duties with practices that nurture personal and spiritual well-being.
What resources can help a new or prospective minister to develop pastoral imagination and the rhythm of pastoral leadership? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry; Discovering the Narrow Path: A Guide to Spiritual Balance; and Becoming a Pastor: Reflections on the Transition into Ministry.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
In “Why Size Matters” (the October 31, 2011 Alban Weekly, adapted from Inside the Large Congregation), Susan Beaumont highlights both the capacities and the challenges that come with a large congregational size.
Beaumont outlines five enhanced capacities of large churches: the capacity for excellence (offering relevance, quality, and choices to members); the effective use of technology (providing “higher energy” worship); the space for both anonymity and intimacy; the presence of diversity; and the opportunity to make a difference.
At the same time, Beaumont points to five challenges or limitations: communication problems; resistance to change; continual staff and leadership transitions; the difficulty of raising money to support growth initiatives; and a frequent lack of alignment, leading to a loss of strategic focus.
The author concludes by inviting readers to examine their own “presuppositions and assumptions about church size.” How have your assumptions about church size been affected by your story and experience in congregations—of whatever size?
What resources might enable you to reflect more fully on these questions? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Size Transitions in Congregations; One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Bringing out the Best in Any Size Church; and Reflecting with God: Connecting Faith and Daily Life in Small Groups.
What are your stories and ideas on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
Especially because many in our culture are more likely to listen to music than to create or play it, Charlotte Kroeker contends that truly participatory worship requires congregations to “build their singing capacity.” Her October 24. 2011 Alban Weekly article, “We Are What We Sing” (adapted from her book, The Sounds of Our Offerings: Achieving Excellence in Church Music) suggests five ways congregations can joyfully foster singing:
First, congregations can begin with—and build upon—the hymns they sing every week, so that the repertoire expands. Second, congregations can regard singing as an art which their leaders will intentionally teach. Third, acoustics can be heightened to enhance sound resonance. Fourth, musical accompaniment can facilitate, not dominate, people’s voices. And fifth, capable musicians and others with special gifts can add to the variety and intensity of the music.
What resources might support congregations seeking to “build their singing capacity”? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: New Harmonies: Choosing Contemporary Music for Worship; A Song to Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice; and Music in Christian Worship: At the Service of the Liturgy.
Also check out the Congregational Resource Guide’s piece, “Joyful Noise: Congregational Singing.”
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
In “Finding Your Fundraising Voice” (the October 17, 2011 Alban Weekly), consultant Dan Hotchkiss reflects on a question congregations frequently ask him: “how do we convince people to give more money?”
After pointing to several strategies—including varying fundraising techniques and grasping the psychology of faith—Hotchkiss challenges readers to recognize that times have changed, and congregations must compete with other places that bid for people’s dollars.
In particular, the author encourages readers to see that few give out of a sense of obligation, giving is a social more than an individual act, people vary in how they think about giving, and people give especially to the “size of the vision as expressed in the budget.”
Succeeding in the current fundraising marketplace, concludes Hotchkiss, requires congregations to convince people that “the specific good it does deserves support from all who hear its strong fundraising voice—which it uses well and often.”
What resources might support your congregation in fundraising? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Stewardship for Vital Congregations; Generous Saints: Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money; Creating Congregations of Generous People; and Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Communities.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
“Theological Reflection in a Small Group” (the October 10, 2011 Alban Weekly, excerpted from Abigail Johnson’s Reflecting with God: Connecting Faith and Daily Life in Small Groups) explains that the purpose of theological reflection is to explore the nature of God’s presence, action, and calling in our lives—including our relationships, work, public participation, and life situations. Such reflection asks, “Where does God fit into the picture?”
Johnson outlines the seven steps for theological reflection (only one of which happens in a group setting): (1) choose a situation to reflect upon; (2) describe your feelings about the situation; (3) consider your thoughts about the various dynamics that might be at play; (4) ask where God is in this situation, perhaps considering a relevant biblical story or text; (5) ask what you have learned from this reflection, be they fresh insights or new actions; (6) pray, in a way that expresses your deepest hope; (7) present to the group.
The author emphasizes that theological reflection is not a “problem-solving process” but instead an “opportunity to deepen a sense of God’s presence in our lives.”
What resources might support congregational small groups engaging in theological reflection? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: The Complete Guide to Small Group Ministry: Saving the World Ten at a Time; Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups; and Gathering the Seekers.
What are your thoughts and stories on this topic? And what resources have you discovered? We look forward to hearing from you.
I usually don’t interject personal remarks here; instead, I offer a quick summary of the Alban Weekly article, suggest some related resources, and invite you to comment.
But this article (“Having Style,” adapted from The Girlfriend’s Clergy Companion) reminded me of an incident years ago at my church. A minister there was criticized for her long, painted nails. She was told that they “got in the way” of her ministry. It left me wondering what it must mean to “do ministry” if long nails somehow “got in the way.” For ministry to be true, must it be devoid of style? Or at least, devoid of painted nails?
So I found it refreshing to see that Marianne Grano has not concluded that her long hair or skirts or heels get in the way of her ministry.
As Grano states, there is a “holy interaction” between substance and style. She invites readers to consider their own styles, allowing them “to redefine what it means to be a child of God, a Christian, or a minister of Word and Sacrament. God called you, so be yourself.”
What resources might support leaders seeking to “be themselves”? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Back Talk!: Women Leaders Changing the Church; Personality Type and Religious Leadership; and The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
“Finding Yourself in the In-between” (the September 26, 2011 Alban Weekly, excerpted from Grace for the Journey: Practices and Possibilities for In-between Times) reminds readers that the lives of congregations—like the lives of individuals—entail spiritual journeys that at times can take unexpected twists and turns.
At such times—deemed “in-between times” by authors Beverly and George Thompson—options may not be clear, but possibilities are often more open than when things are more comfortable and predictable. An in-between time, say the Thompsons, is one that is “expectant with grace.” They refer to Eugene Peterson’s quote that “always God is doing something before I know it. So the task is…to become aware of what God is doing so that I can respond to it and participate in it.”
What resources might support congregations in their in-between times? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Transitions: Leading Churches through Change; Attentive to God: Spirituality in the Church Committee; and Leadership and Listening: Spiritual Foundations for Church Governance.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you.
