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.
“Choices for Change” (the September 12, 2011 Alban Weekly, adapted from Bob Sitze’s It’s Not Too Late: A Field Guide to Hope) talks about two choices for change that we can make: thinking our way into acting differently, or acting our way into thinking differently. Sitze’s article specifically focuses these choices on changes that strengthen hope.
Choices that strengthen hopeful thinking, notes Sitze, include recollecting our thinking at especially hopeful moments in our lives, imagining ourselves as predominately hopeful, asking ourselves what it would take to forsake more discouraging ways of thinking, and asking loved ones to remind us about keeping hope as our ideal choice for approaching life.
And choices that strengthen hopeful acting? Sitze suggests imitating people whose hopeful behaviors we admire, acting for just one day as if our problems were actually opportunities, listening carefully to the words we use, and recounting our assets—”the gifts from God that are useful.”
The author makes additional suggestions; if you haven’t already read the article, please do so now.
What resources can strengthen our commitment to change in ways that strengthen hope? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider Carol Howard Merritt’s Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, as well as the in-depth piece from the Congregational Resource Guide, “Hope in the Face of Anxiety.”
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
Drawing on the reflections of both the ancient mystic Brother Lawrence and contemporary mystic Gerald May, Bruce Epperly discusses how practicing the presence of God aims to see the “holy in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary events in life” and to foster “the growth of God’s work in people’s lives.”
Epperly’s September 5, 2011 Alban Weekly article, “Practicing the Presence of God in Ministry” (adapted from this book, Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry) tells us that “each moment provides an opportunity to receive and give God’s blessing, counsel, and wisdom.”
Epperly describes the five steps of awakening to God’s presence: pausing (to notice what’s in front of us); noticing (looking beyond the obvious to the deeper dimensions of what we see); opening (bathing ourselves in the wonder of life); yielding and stretching (following God’s wisdom); and responding (in our unique ways to the presence of the holy).
And Epperly reminds us of Julian of Norwich’s observation that “something as simple as a hazelnut exists because of God’s lively presence within it.” He goes on to surmise that this is “surely the case for fireflies, bits of paper on the floor, or church board members.”
What resources might help you and your congregation in practicing the presence of God? In addition to the items listed at the end of the book, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Armchair Mystic: Easing into Contemplative Prayer; A Praying Congregation: The Art of Teaching Spiritual Practice; and Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you.
In “A Time for Trust” (the August 29, 2011 Alban Weekly, excerpted and adapted from The Girlfriends’ Clergy Companion: Surviving and Thriving in Ministry), Amy Morgan notes that people out of seminary may be confused about their first call, take missteps to secure it, and find themselves “wondering in the first five years of ministry if a career as a day trader isn’t what God is really calling them to.”
Morgan goes on to say that surviving this “call process” often requires certain qualities, including T.R.U.S.T. These letters form an acronym that Morgan unpacks in the article, with the first “T” standing for “Talk to others about the churches you’re considering”; “R” standing for “Rock the interview” by participating in faithful dialogue; “U” standing for “Understand what you and the church really want” and expect; “S” standing for “Study the church” reports, website, history, and surrounding community; and the final “T” standing for “Take the call” if you discern God seeks that you do so.
The author invites readers to consider whether their gifts and skills will be appreciated and useful in a particular ministry setting; whether God might be calling them to grow as a pastor and a person here; and whether they will be able to minister effectively on a personal level.
What resources might be helpful for pastors going through the call process? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, we invite you to consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: The Competent Pastor: Skills and Self-Knowledge for Serving Well; “Faithful to the Call: Reflections on Excellence in Ministry“; and “Becoming a Pastor: Reflections on the Transition into Ministry.”
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources have you found helpful? We look forward to hearing from you.
