Resources and Comments in Response to “Friend, Foe, or Fiasco”
The July 27, 2010 Alban Weekly (“Friend, Foe, or Fiasco,” excerpted from Bruce Epperly and Daryl Hollinger’s From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church) stresses the importance of strong partnerships between pastors and music leaders, particularly in small churches. Such partnerships are fostered, say Epperly and Hollinger, by good communication; understanding strengths, weaknesses, and personality types; respecting each other’s roles in ministry; and a commitment to spiritual formation on the part of both pastors and church musicians.
Epperly and Hollinger conclude that “Creative worship calls us to be bold in creating healthy relationships between the pastor and church musician that are loving, supportive, full of open communication, and grounded in spirituality.”
If you have not yet read the article, please do so now.
What resources can support creative worship and the relationships that nurture it? In addition to the many items listed at the end of the article, we hope you’ll also take a look at the “Music” section of the Congregational Resource Guide. You might find Don Saliers’s Music and Theology especially helpful.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you!
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Resources and Comments in Response to “Evangelism and the Under-Thirty Crowd”
The July 19, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“Evangelism and the Under-Thirty Crowd“) is adapted from the article, “Resurrected Lives,” published in the Spring 2010 issue of Congregations magazine. The article discusses the role of Christian evangelism with young adults and the ways that congregations might respond more fully to both the spiritual questions of young [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “Why Do We Worship the Way We Have Always Worshiped When People Keep Changing?”
In the July 12 issue of Alban Weekly (“Why Do We Worship the Way We Have Always Worshiped When People Keep Changing?“), Graham Standish asserts that forms of worship need to be adapted to the trends that emerge with each new generation. Forms that were vital thirty or forty years ago fail as time passes [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “Funding for Today and Tomorrow”
In the July 7, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“Funding for Today and Tomorrow“) Dan Hotchkiss points out that many congregations want to believe they serve those beyond their walls, but expect budget outlays to focus on the desires and needs of their members. He compares the congregation with other nonprofits as he explains that [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “Why Blog?”
Lynne Baab, author of Reaching Out in a Networked World (from which “Why Blog” was excerpted for the June 28, 2010 Alban Weekly), argues that blogs can be wonderful communication vehicles for congregations. They can function as newsletters, as stories and testimonies, and as building blocks for communicating “a piece of what the congregation considers [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “The Vision to Embrace Change”
“The Vision to Embrace Change” (the June 21, 2010 Alban Weekly article adapted from Kenneth McFayden’s Strategic Leadership for a Change: Facing Our Losses, Finding Our Future) highlights several components of effective visioning processes. Each component, believes McFayden, needs to be utilized as congregations embrace change and move into a transformational future. The first of [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “The POWR of Planning Worship”
In the June 14, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“The POWR of Planning Worship“), Barbara Day Miller examines the processes that can lead to truly life-giving worship. These processes, which Miller explores more fully in Encounters with the Holy: A Conversational Model for Worship Planning, involve holding in tension two divergent but important movements in [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “Rev. Mackay’s Dilemmas”
The June 7, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“Rev. Mackay’s Dilemmas“) demonstrates what can go wrong when sensitive information is not handled in a responsible way. Using the example of a small-town pastor, the authors explain why key questions need to be asked when determining what to do about potentially harmful secrets. Kibbie Simmons Ruth [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “Visions of the Sacred Community”
In the May 31, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“Visions of the Sacred Community“), the authors clearly delineate the differences between a consumer-driven functional congregational community and a truly visionary community. While purely functional communities are marked by consumerism, segmentation, passivity, meaninglessness, resistance to change, and nonreflective leadership (which are explained in the article), truly [...]
Resources and Comments in Response to “Congregational Management: A Holy Calling”
In the May 24, 2010 Alban Weekly (“Congregational Management: A Holy Calling“), John Wimberly makes some significant points about the value and importance of sound management in congregations. Managers need to think systemically, valuing each part of the system and keeping all parts properly aligned as well as running smoothly. They need to limit risks [...]
