Resources and Comments in Response to “Craving Community”
In the August 9, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“Craving Community,” excerpted and adapted from “Downtown Judaism: In Our Own Image,” an essay in Living Our Story), New York Rabbi Niles Elliot Goldstein relays his memories of the longing for community and for the safe haven of sanctuary that arose in lower Manhattan and in Jewish life after 9/11.
That longing still exists, and Goldstein holds that people even now “are looking for communities, not congregations,” and for sanctuaries more than for houses of worship. And yet, a key question in the face of creating community and sanctuary is how best to “strike the proper balance between creating innovative projects and initiatives and conserving the traditional pillars of our rich and ancient faiths?”
If you have not yet read this article, please do so now.
The article is followed by an annotated list of relevant resources. In addition to these resources, you might consider The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community as well as the exciting project and website, Synagogue 3000.
What are your thoughts and stories on this topic? And resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you!
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How’s Your Hopefulness Index?
Bob Sitze, author of It’s Not Too Late: A Field Guide to Hope and this week’s Alban Weekly, writes:
This book started as an attempt to thwart “eco-despair,” something I saw building in the environmental movement and bleeding into the social justice enterprises of which I was a part. No one was out-and-out giving up, but many of its signs were there: endless circling around what didn’t work in the past, tired arguments over small details, uninspired approaches, neglect of current scientific thought, and perhaps just plain old stress-related actions—fighting, fleeing, freezing. Help was needed, I thought, and perhaps I could offer it in the form of a book about the subject of eco-despair.
I started looking at hope and hopefulness as part of the human condition, including the spiritual and neurobiological parts of this basic human trait. I was encouraged by what I read, including books and research that got to the nature of hope itself. There was no end to the really excellent writing that delved into hopefulness, from any number of directions. Good stuff, and not to be repeated in anything coming from my little brain. There had to be another angle by which to approach “Please let’s all be hopeful,” perhaps a niche that I could play with.
That’s where the “field guide” metaphor came to life. As an avid outdoors guy—with my family I have hiked and fished the Sierras for decades—I knew the value of those little books that help you identify the flora, fauna, history, and geology of the landscapes around you. Without the useful presence of those compact little volumes in our pockets, our family forays into nature would have been uninformed, unappreciative, and maybe even dangerous. (Ever encounter the famous “Stinging Nettle”?)
So a “field guide to hope” became the operating metaphor for this book, an approach to hopefulness that offered less description about the thing being sought and more help in how and where to find it.
And What About You?
I don’t know how your “hopefulness index” is doing these days. These are tough times, let’s be honest, so I can understand if you find yourself infected with some form of despair. The little mosquitoes of life today seem to want to bite all of us, trading our life blood for their eventually death-dealing poisons. I know those feelings—they sat on my shoulder like a horde of demons all during the writing of the book—so I can grant you the possibility that despair and its ugly brood might be perching on your soul, too. Waiting to turn you into a sulking cynic or worse.
I really hope that you’ll not succumb to any of their temptations or diseases. Hopelessness will kill your ministry as certainly as will anger or narcissism. You have a higher calling than dragging the mission of God into slow-motion; you have more skills than mumbling about the end being near. You’re a leader, for God’s sake, and by God’s grace you can help the people you serve face the gathering environmental and economic landscape with more than dogged determination.
I wrote this book to be helpful for you. I hope that will become obvious as you read it. Like any other field guide, my little book can be read from front to back or sampled in small gulps. I also hope you’ll do more than read the book and put in on your shelf. Spend some time with someone you trust talking about any of the entries in the book. Because it’s small, you can put it into any of your real or metaphoric pockets and carry it with you into the places where you want to find hope.
Hope is still a gift of the Spirit, and it’s out there where you live and work. Look for it, and take someone along with you on the journey!
God keep you hopeful,
Bob Sitze
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!
Resources and Comments in Response to “Evangelism and the Under-Thirty Crowd”
Resources and Comments in Response to “Setting the Welcome Thermostat”
In the May 17, 2010 issue of the Alban Weekly (“Setting the Welcome Thermostat“), Sarah Drummond talks about a church that manages to attract a group not often found in other churches: the post-collegiate young adults who have not yet put down roots but who are seeking a welcoming, inviting church to call “home.” Three attributes enhance this church’s appeal: it is “flexible while honoring the importance of commitment”; it is “welcoming but not desperate”; and it is “overt about theology while making room for doubt.” The article explores these attributes, or tensions, in greater detail. If you haven’t read it, please do so now.
What resources might support a church in becoming a welcoming place, particularly for this age cohort? In addition to the excellent items listed at the end of the article, we suggest the resources in the “Inclusion and Welcoming” and the “Generation Theory” sections of the Congregational Resource Guide. You might especially enjoy Jackson Carroll’s Bridging Divided Worlds: Generational Cultures in Congregations.
What are your thoughts and experiences on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you!
Resources and Comments in Response to “Should We Be Growing?”
When a congregation faces the possibility of growth, it’s important that its leaders and members discern God’s longing and desire on this matter. But before they do, says Alice Mann, they may need to recognize their own longings and desires—both individually and corporately.
The May 10, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“Should We Be Growing?“) notes that discernment on all of these levels is no simple task, especially because a change in size will lead to a change in congregational culture and style. Mann discusses the forms that such discernment can take and explains why it is important to engage in the discernment process.
What resources might help your congregation to engage in discernment and dialogue around size transitions? In addition to the resources listed at the end of the article, we suggest you consider the resources in the “Size Transitions” and “Growth” sections of the Congregational Resource Guide. You might also consider Discerning God’s Will Together and Discerning Your Congregation’s Future.
What are your experiences and thoughts regarding discernment in response to size transitions? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you!
Resources and Comments in Response to “The Prophet Calls for Civil Discourse”
In the May 3, 2010 issue of Alban Weekly (“The Prophet Calls for Civil Discourse“), Howard Friend points out that dissension and disagreement have been a part of congregational life since the earliest times. And yet today there’s a notable lack of civility in our discourse, not to mention a notable lack of mutual respect between persons on opposite sides of an issue.
Friend articulates a fourfold process for relating our faith to social issues, a process developed by the congregation he served. If you’ve read the article, you know the process includes becoming broadly informed on issues, studying Scripture and praying, articulating your position with both boldness and humility, and remembering to speak and listen with equal care.
What resources might promote civil dialogue, mutual understanding, and the capacity to develop what Friend calls a “pastoral prophetic voice”? In addition to the excellent items listed at the end of the article, we suggest you consider some items in the “Conflict” and “Communications” sections of the Congregational Resource Guide. You might especially benefit from The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, and The Little Book of Dialogue for Difficult Subjects: A Practical, Hands-On Guide.
What are your thoughts and experiences on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you!
Claiming the Nonprofit Potential of Congregations
Among many ways that congregations are exploring alternative funding sources for their ministries, one of the most creative is starting a faith-based nonprofit as part of the ministry of your congregation. In this article from “Faith and Leadership,” Alban author Joy Skjegstad helps congregations to ask “Should your church start a nonprofit?“ Her focus isn’t simply, “can a nonprofit help you make money for your congregation?” but “can a nonprofit at your church help you to accomplish you ministry in the community where you live?” It’s all really about community ministry, what it looks like, and how you find the resources you need, which of course are primarily the resources of people in your congregation or faith-based organization, and so claiming the nonprofit potential of congregations means taking very seriously the task of “Nurturing gifts and talents in your organization.”
Joy has led a number of webinars for Alban in this area, including several available on-demand webinars available for download: Designing Your Community Outreach Ministry, Developing Your Community Outreach Ministry, Grant Search Strategies for Churches and Nonprofits, Meet the Neighbors: Ten Easy Ways to Discover the Community Around Your Church, Out of the Pew, Into the Community, Outreach Isn’t Optional: Why Community Ministry is Essential to Your Congregation’s Future, Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church, and Winning Grants to Strengthen Your Ministry.
She also was the leader of our recent one-day event at Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia on “Alternative Sources of Funding for Ministry” and will be leading several additional live online events as 2010 progresses.
Resources and Comments in Response to “Playing in the Same Sandbox”
Wayne Whitson Floyd, Education Manager at the Alban Institute, has written an Alban Weekly article (“Playing in the Same Sandbox: Why Partnerships are the Future of American Congregations“) that addresses how shared commitments can anchor diverse congregations in a dedication to addressing common needs, learning valuable truths, and creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. These commitments facilitate organic and life-giving partnerships. If you have not yet read this article, please read it now!
What resources might help you and your congregation to produce such partnerships? In addition to the excellent resources listed at the end of the article, we encourage you to consider the following items reviewed in the Congregational Resource Guide: Becoming a Congregation of Learners; Open Space Technology; and Creating the Future Together.
What are your thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you!
Resources in Response to “Don’t Underestimate the System Delays”
Dan Hotchkiss’s article, “Don’t Underestimate the System Delays,” makes the important point that a proposed congregational change—be it a building addition, a new curriculum, a public ministry, or any number of other projects—should respect the realistic time required to absorb the change, address the resistance, and produce the desired results. If the project is evaluated too soon, initially negative feedback may lead one to “pull the plug” prematurely.
Hotchkiss advises us not to be misled by the possibility that people may become less happy before things get better, and that attendance numbers (or other quantitative measures of success) may go down before they go up. In other words, don’t underestimate the time required to produce results. All systems need to cycle through their necessary processes.
What resources can support leaders as they work to implement changes? In addition to the excellent resources listed at the end of the article, we invite you to consider the resources in the “Change” and “Systems Theory” sections of the Congregational Resource Guide. We especially think you might benefit from reading Gil Rendle’s “The Illusion of Congregational Happiness.”
What are your thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you!
