• Explore what is new and exciting in the world of congregational life and ministry. Sometimes it isn’t just about being better. Sometimes you want or need to try something different; we help find new ways to think about what you do…and why.

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  • ArticleThe Stories We AreThe Stories We Are

    What is your story and how can it help you lead? It’s not as easy as you may think: there’s always more than one story. Learn how to construct, from the many competing narratives, a helpful story that will lead you and your congregation into a story worth telling.

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  • ArticleLarry PeersThe Problem Trap

    “You think that’s bad! Let me tell you about…” Have you ever found yourself in what feels like a contest to see who can share the worst problem? Larry Peers talks about “problem-saturated” stories, how to break their cycle, and how to stimulate more productive conversations.

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  • ArticleVision Just AheadWhere Does Vision Come From?

    That is not a simple question. Finding your congregation’s vision has a lot to do with what you think it means to be “a church.” Alice Mann explores several ways to look at vision using different understandings of “church,” and she provides a path for finding meaning in the exploration.

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  • ArticleIs Conflict a Good Thing?

    To hold the whole congregation together for hard conversations, leaders need both courage and compassion: courage to face conflict squarely, and compassion to sidestep it at times, or slow it down, so everyone can stay involved.

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  • ArticleHow did you learn to pray?Learning to Pray

    How did you learn to pray? Who taught you? Do you have warm feelings about the experiences, or do you feel angry or afraid? Remembering your own history of prayer is important as you seek to grow in your prayer life.

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  • WebinarFaith and Everyday Leadership

    Your faith touches the person that you are and the decisions that you make daily -- in boardrooms, businesses, offices, homes, classrooms, houses of worship, and hospitals across our land. From your smallest gestures to your most ambitious efforts, your work, service, and leadership already make it possible for you to serve as an agent of grace and transformation to shape and heal the world.

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  • ArticleOur world demands diverse, changing skills.Effective 21st-Century Ministry

    Pastors in the 21st-century will need to be generalists. The fast-paced, constantly changing world in which we find ourselves demands diverse skills. Jill Hudson offers 12 characteristics of pastors who will be effective leading the modern-era church into a postmodern ministry.

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  • BookFinding Our StoryFinding Our Story

    Do you find yourself swimming in a sea of stories about your congregation – its history, its characters, its graces and foibles? In Finding Our Story: Narrative Leadership and Congregational Change, Alban consultants make sense of these stories and use them to see new possibilities in the lives of congregations.

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