Alban Institute
Alban Institute publish many of the books that we as an MRN team have found to be helpful resources in our work with congregations and also for our own faith journeys. Their website also has a host of readily available resources. For instance, on their blog this week, you can read a post about the way in which vital congregations are communities of practice – places where we “immerse ourselves in those patterns of communal action” …which “create openings in our lives where the grace, mercy and presence of God may be known to us” (Craig Dykstra). The author of the post, Wayne Floyd, identifies and expounds on five practices that he associates with vital congregations: Discernment, Story-Telling, Proclamation, Hospitality and Service. You can read the whole entry here
You can subscribe to a weekly newsletter which contains articles and information about resources. In this week’s there is an excellent feature on “Planning as Holy Conversation”. The authors, Gil Rendle and Alice Mann have written a book, titled “Holy Conversation”: a resource I use frequently. They acknowledge the complexity of planning, where in contemporary congregations there are many competing preferences and needs. Their belief is that planning is not problem centred and it is not the responsibility of the leader(s) to find a solution. Instead, the task of the leader is to help the people have a purposeful and meaningful conversation about who they are and what they believe is important to do. The Exodus journey mirrors that of many congregations. It is helpful to think of leadership as “a dance in whcih we seek a more distant future that is both meaningful and faithful while simultaneously mananging the specific day to day realities of the trip”. To read the full article you will need to subscribe to the Alban Institute weekly newsletter – which is FREE. You can do that here
Their book (see below) is available on order from MRN Resources. Please contact Heather at hbald@sa.uca.org.au MRN have a copy for previewing.
Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann
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.
