The past half century in which American cultural values have shifted has resulted in a large loss of strength and confidence among congregations, along with a host of other voluntary association organizations. Our culture is currently caught in a search for a new balance between freedom and equality, between the focus on personal liberties (the “I”) and the common good (the “We”). Now experiencing the consequences of an excessive over-attention to the individual, the self, the narrative of the Christian faith and the role of the congregation, with its focus on shared creation and the critical need for community, are needed now more than ever. Tara Isabella Burton names three challengers to this sense of communal congregational life as competing “civil religions:” the social justice movement, techno-utopianism, and atavism. The voice that is missing belongs to congregations which carry the antidote to the self-centeredness of the competing civil religions. Congregations are about God (a power outside and beyond the self) and a conviction about the importance of the common good. This book will challenge congregations to be countercultural and reclaim their institutional purpose at this critical moment in our history.

The past half century in which American cultural values have shifted has resulted in a large loss of strength and confidence among congregations, along with a host of other voluntary association organizations. Our culture is currently caught in a search for a new balance between freedom and equality, between the focus on personal liberties (the “I”) and the common good (the “We”). Now experiencing the consequences of an excessive over-attention to the individual, the self, the narrative of the Christian faith and the role of the congregation, with its focus on shared creation and the critical need for community, are needed now more than ever. Tara Isabella Burton names three challengers to this sense of communal congregational life as competing “civil religions:” the social justice movement, techno-utopianism, and atavism. The voice that is missing belongs to congregations which carry the antidote to the self-centeredness of the competing civil religions. Congregations are about God (a power outside and beyond the self) and a conviction about the importance of the common good. This book will challenge congregations to be countercultural and reclaim their institutional purpose at this critical moment in our history.

Conflict is endemic to congregational life. Because congregations exist to help us find meaning and purpose, we find it difficult to realize that not everyone shares our understanding or approach. Many of us have cultural backgrounds that teach us that conflict is bad or to be avoided. Conflict Transformation, on the other hand, treats conflict as an opportunity to learn and grow, both individually, and institutionally. Exploring new understandings of how our bodies and minds respond to conflict, Cooley offers concrete strategies for personal growth and healthy congregational functioning. Anticipating new conflicts that may arise from recent traumas of pandemic response and political division, Cooley offers a way to make painful conversations sources of healing. Drawing on over 30 years of experience as a parish minister and denominational official, Cooley weaves personal reflections with intellectual theory. Each chapter includes discussion questions that make it a valuable resource for group conversation and learning.

Conflict is endemic to congregational life. Because congregations exist to help us find meaning and purpose, we find it difficult to realize that not everyone shares our understanding or approach. Many of us have cultural backgrounds that teach us that conflict is bad or to be avoided. Conflict Transformation, on the other hand, treats conflict as an opportunity to learn and grow, both individually, and institutionally. Exploring new understandings of how our bodies and minds respond to conflict, Cooley offers concrete strategies for personal growth and healthy congregational functioning. Anticipating new conflicts that may arise from recent traumas of pandemic response and political division, Cooley offers a way to make painful conversations sources of healing. Drawing on over 30 years of experience as a parish minister and denominational official, Cooley weaves personal reflections with intellectual theory. Each chapter includes discussion questions that make it a valuable resource for group conversation and learning.

Over the past ten years, the North American mission field has experienced dramatic changes, which in turn have required congregations, middle judicatories, and denominations to adapt. Among these adaptations is an expectation for clear goals and quantified progress towards those goals. Church leaders who have never needed to measure their goals and progress with metrics may find this change daunting. The use of metrics denominational and middle judicatory dashboards, and the tracking of congregational trends has become an uncomfortable and misunderstood practice in this search for accountability. Doing the Math of Mission offers theory, models, and new tools for using metrics in ministry. This book also shows where metrics and accountability fit into the discernment, goal setting, and strategies of ministry. While there are resources for research on congregations, tools on congregational studies, and books on program evaluation, there is a gap when it comes to actual tools and resources for church leaders. This book is intended to help fill that gap, giving leaders a toolbox they can use in their own setting to clarify their purpose and guide their steps."

The changing dynamics of contemporary church life are well-known, but what's less well-known is how leaders can work most effectively in this new context. In Quietly Courageous, esteemed minister and congregational consultant Gil Rendle offers practical guidance to leaders-both lay and ordained-on leading churches today. Rendle encourages leaders to stop focusing on the past and instead focus relentlessly on their mission and purpose-what is ultimately motivating their work. He also urges a shift in perspectives on resources, discusses models of change, and offers suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls and working creatively today.

Over the past ten years, the North American mission field has experienced dramatic changes, which in turn have required congregations, middle judicatories, and denominations to adapt. Among these adaptations is an expectation for clear goals and quantified progress towards those goals. Church leaders who have never needed to measure their goals and progress with metrics may find this change daunting. The use of metrics denominational and middle judicatory dashboards, and the tracking of congregational trends has become an uncomfortable and misunderstood practice in this search for accountability. Doing the Math of Mission offers theory, models, and new tools for using metrics in ministry. This book also shows where metrics and accountability fit into the discernment, goal setting, and strategies of ministry. While there are resources for research on congregations, tools on congregational studies, and books on program evaluation, there is a gap when it comes to actual tools and resources for church leaders. This book is intended to help fill that gap, giving leaders a toolbox they can use in their own setting to clarify their purpose and guide their steps."

As congregations grow, they become dependent upon a greater number of staff to equip and lead their diverse collection of members. As leaders of multi-staff teams, senior clergy must play the dual role of both Moses and Aaron--both visionary and detail-oriented leader--in order for their large congregations to thrive. Long-time Alban senior consultant Gil Rendle and senior consultant Susan Beaumont have developed When Moses Meets Aaron to help clergy responsible for several-member staff teams navigate these unknown waters. They have taken the best human resource practices and immersed them in a congregational context, providing a comprehensive manual for supervising, motivating, and coordinating staff teams. Rendle and Beaumont give both detailed and big picture guidance on hiring, job descriptions, supervision, performance evaluation, staff-team design, difficult staff behavior, and more.

This down-to-earth workbook gets to the heart of modern congregational life: how to live creatively together despite differences of age, race, culture, opinion, gender, or theological or political position. Gil Rendle explains how to grow by valuing our differences rather than trying to ignore or blend them. He describes a method of establishing behavioral covenants that includes leadership instruction, training tools, resources, small-group exercises, and plans for meetings and retreats. An essential resource for all ministers.

Planning can be challenging in the contemporary congregation, where people share a common faith and values but may have very different preferences and needs. Much of the literature on congregational planning presents it as a technical process: the leader serves as the chief problem solver, and the goal is finding the solution to the problem. Popular Alban consultants and authors Gil Rendle and Alice Mann cast planning as a holy conversation, a congregational discernment process about three critical questions: .Who are we? .What has God called us to do or be? .Who is our neighbor? Rendle and Mann equip congregational leaders with a broad and creative range of ideas, pathways, processes, and tools for planning. By choosing the resources that best suit their needs and context, congregations will shape their own strengthening, transforming, holy conversation. They will find a path that is faithful to their identity and their relationship with God."

The changing dynamics of contemporary church life are well-known, but what's less well-known is how leaders can work most effectively in this new context. In Quietly Courageous, esteemed minister and congregational consultant Gil Rendle offers practical guidance to leaders-both lay and ordained-on leading churches today. Rendle encourages leaders to stop focusing on the past and instead focus relentlessly on their mission and purpose-what is ultimately motivating their work. He also urges a shift in perspectives on resources, discusses models of change, and offers suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls and working creatively today.

The lifeblood of the United Methodist is passion rather than organizational neatness, entrepreneurial freedom rather than denominational restraint, and agility rather than staid institutional dependence. But if United Methodists want to change and be the church we say we want to be, what must we risk and how can we challenge current practices?

At the heart of becoming a spiritual movement once again is the requirement that we develop a new understanding of connection as Christians and as United Methodists. We are currently at a time in which United Methodists are reinventing denominational connectionalism. One way of framing the issue is to distinguish between members and disciples, or consumers (those who wait for the institution to care for their needs) and citizens (those who are willing to commit themselves to and be held accountable for the whole of the community).

United Methodism has nurtured generations of leaders and congregations that see themselves as consumers of the resources and attention of the denomination. The impulse toward movement is challenging spiritually purposeful leaders and congregations to risk becoming citizens who fully expect to make a difference in the lives of individuals and also in the world through an encounter with Christ.

The last forty years have seen transitions in mainline churches that feel, for many, like a journey into the wilderness. Yet God is calling us in this moment, not to grieve over the changes we have experienced but to hear the call to a new mission, and a new faithfulness. In Journey in the Wilderness, Gil Rendle draws on decades as a pastor and church consultant to point a way into a hopeful future. The key to embracing the wilderness is to learn new skills in leading change, to reach beyond a position of privilege and power to become churches that serve God s hurting people."