Subject: Church management
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The Business Of The Church
Pastors are called to be not only leaders with vision but also managers of congregational systems, says John Wimberly in The Business of the Church. Drawing on his thirty-six years in ordained ministry, Wimberly weaves the realities of congregational dynamics and faith-centered purpose together with practical, proven approaches to business management. A student and friend…
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Creating A Healthier Church
Ronald W. Richardson helps us to understand how congregations function emotionally. Without being simplistic, he gives clear directions on how to improve their quality of life together and function more effectively in achieving mission goals. This book offers: A theory about human behavior that will aid understanding of how things can get out of control…
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Smaller Church Mission Study Guide
A guide developed for the majority of Presbyterian congregations at the suggestion of the committees of the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
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Who Is Our Church?
After congregations have considered their history, added up all the statistics, and tried to be honest about their core values, the question still remains: “Who are we, really?” Author Janet Cawley offers a creative, engaging, and faithful way to answer just that question. Cawley demonstrates how to use a congregation’s knowledge of itself to construct…
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Holy Conversations
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.”…
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Completing The Circle
On his second day as association minister for the United Church of Christ, David McMahill received three phone calls from lay leaders who were looking for resources on “how to evaluate our minister.” He knew of several churches in which a poorly constructed process for evaluating the ministers had spun out of control, however, and…
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Raising The Roof
Pastoral-to-program size change is frequently described as the most challenging of growth transitions for congregations. Now Alban senior consultant Alice Mann, author of The In-Between Church: Navigating Size Transitions in Congregations, addresses the difficulties of that transition in this resource designed specifically for a congregational learning team. Conceptualized and developed by Mann for an Alban online…
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Serving God With Style
Every church is driven by its faith in God, and seeks to grow that faith by guiding its members toward fruitful ministry. But in the face of accelerating change, congregations often find themselves spinning their wheels, exerting great amounts of energy to little effect: the faith is willing, but, faced with uncertainties, the results are…
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Redeveloping The Congregation
What makes it possible for a church to reverse course from decline or stagnation into long-lasting vitality? How can a church immigrate from a congealing present into a compelling future? What can a congregation do to experience continuous, deep change rather than just temporary, surface improvement? How does a person lead redevelopment? The three authors…
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Projects That Matter
Projects That Matter introduces project leaders and teams to the five basic elements of project design and describes in detail a six-step process for designing and implementing a project evaluation and disseminating evaluation findings. Written for the nonexpert, leaders in religious settings will find Cahalan’s guidance clear and invaluable. Presenting evaluation as a form of collaborative…
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The Alban Personnel Handbook For Congregations
Today’s congregations increasingly are finding themselves serving as human resource managers for both ordained and non-ordained persons. This handbook provides practical and proven strategies for managing church staff and addresses the particular ethical and theological issues that faith communities need to consider to be effective stewards of those whom the employ. Among this books invaluable…
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Multigenerational Congregations
Congregations need to learn new cultural languages and practices in order to speak to and be heard by new generations of people. But how do congregations enter the wilderness of ministry with these new generations when many of those in the entourage do not appreciate the trip? In contrast to many writers about church growth,…