c. 1999 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ The Rev. Carol Johnston stood before a small group of religious leaders in a church conference room and addressed one of the taboo topics of faith: money.
Going beyond the overt challenge of filling offering baskets to the underlying financial thoughts of congregants, she discussed her studies of how houses of worship have mastered the tricky mixture of faith and funds.
Johnston shared what she calls”the theology of sport utility vehicles”at a recent conference sponsored by the Alban Institute.”I am convinced that the primary reason people buy those things … is because people feel insecure in their daily lives and this is one way to feel more secure,”said Johnston, director of the project on Faith, Wealth, and Community Leadership at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.”The answer is not money. The answer is healthy relationships with family, community and God.” The workshop for 20 pastors, lay leaders and others interested in challenges facing congregations is just one example of the ways the Alban Institute has worked to support congregational life for the last 25 years.
Founder Loren Mead started the institute after discovering through research for his denomination, the Episcopal Church, that practical assistance for congregations was sorely lacking.”There wasn’t much help for people who lead congregations,”he said.”There were lots of practical things we needed help with and we didn’t know where to get that help. We felt very alone and the people, largely in my experience, in the denominational offices were focused on trying to produce programs that would help churches but often they weren’t in touch with what was actually going on in churches.” Since that time, the institute has continued to expand its reach through publications and consultations. Mead at one time was the sole consultant and now the institute has a range of specialists across the country who can visit local congregations and lead workshops.”In the early days, we published a few little, almost mimeographed monographs,”said Mead, who served as Alban’s executive director for 20 years and is now an independent consultant.”And now, this year, Alban is publishing 15 books.” The Bethesda, Md.-based institute has addressed issues faced by congregations from clergy transitions to worship conflicts to updating computer operations.
The Rev. James P. Wind, Alban’s president, said the institute has tried for 25 years to determine”the most difficult, pressing issues facing the congregations of this country.” Consultants have helped individual congregations deal with conflicts, transitions and ways to revitalize congregations.
Practical issues are addressed in a variety of courses as well, held nationwide.”This can be everything from how do you manage multiple-staff congregations, how do you survive and thrive as an associate pastor, how do you serve as the senior pastor, how do you learn how to manage conflict in your congregation,”said Wind.”I think we have contributed new knowledge about a variety of realities in congregational life.” The Rev. George Taylor, pastor of Hyattsville Presbyterian Church in Hyattsville, Md., said he has benefited from a variety of Alban’s offerings.
For most of the 1990s, he served as pastor of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in Poolesville, Md., and his presbytery paid for an Alban consultant that helped the rural church adapt to a changing environment as younger families moved out from the city.”They’ve been good in giving me new ideas and resources,”he said.”They’re really into church renewal and finding ways to help parishes do things better.” While helping reshape congregations, Alban more recently has also worked to reshape itself.
Its leaders are beginning to explore relationships outside the traditional, predominantly white mainline Protestant churches making up the bulk of its membership. More than 9,000 individuals, congregations and institutions are Alban members.
The Rev. Clarence Newsome, dean of the Howard University School of Divinity, joined Alban’s board last year and hopes to serve as a liaison between African-American churches and the institute, which has been”a well-kept secret”to many black congregations.”There is a need for African-American congregations to have greater access to people who have thought long and hard and developed quite a bit of experience in the area of helping congregational growth and development,”Newsome said.”I think Alban is just beginning to hit its stride … I think that we’ll see the Alban name being far more familiar to a wider spectrum of the churchgoing public than we have in the past.” Efforts to further broaden the institute’s reach include a first-ever national and interfaith conference on”The Public Significance of America’s Congregations.”It will be held in Alexandria, Va., on Oct 21-22.
The institute, also has started a new venture to reach particular local congregations. The Indianapolis Center for Congregations holds workshops and provides resources for houses of worship. So far the center has addressed such issues as fund raising, passing the faith to the next generation, leadership development and conflict management.
Seventy-five percent of those attending the center’s workshops at local churches and synagogues are lay people, said the Rev. John Wimmer, center director.”One of the most innovative things that we’ve been doing is having computer workshops with congregations,”said Wimmer.”We help them find the best … church management software and computer resources and support to help them accomplish their missions.” More than two dozen congregations have received computer-related assistance through the center, whose work is funded by a Lilly Endowment grant. The Indianapolis-based foundation awarded the Alban Institute $5.3 million in 1996 for the center’s first three years and has recently awarded the institute an additional $6.4 million for the next three years.”All those funds are not just for the work directly in Indianapolis,”Wimmer said.”Our mission is to share what we are learning with congregations all across the country.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE)
Likewise, other faith and money conferences like the one recently led by Johnston, will be held in congregations across the country that also are receiving individual assistance from Alban. The institute hopes to provide resources on faith and money to other congregations as a result of the project.
The how-to specifics often discussed at Alban workshops are what attract member David Jernigan of Lovettsville, Va., who attended the workshop on faith and money and has used Alban’s books and materials in the past.”I think a lot of what we have to do is to communicate the missions that we’re already doing and allow people to see that their money does more than pay for the paint job in the congregation,”said Jernigan, who is preparing for ordination while serving as an administrator of a congregation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.”Their money is feeding somebody whose house was wiped out in a hurricane. We’ve got to make that very real.”DEA END BANKS
