Volume Three    Number Two  June 2006       

INDEX:

This quarterly electronic newsletter is dedicated to promoting the work and research of over twenty web sites of religion institutes, programs and projects related to the initiatives in religion of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The newsletter offers informative summaries of research and news contained on these web sites in an effort to make this information more widely known and used. more

Special features in this issue include a summary of research on the state of pastoral leadership in the U.S. and a review of the Congregational Resource Guide web site.
Visit the links to the left to explore the individual features of the newsletter.  A pdf version of this newsletter is available to print and distribute. more   

Each newsletter issue contains two feature articles. The first feature is a  summary of religion research findings often drawn from several of the web sites covered by this newsletter. A second feature article is an in-depth review of the content offered by one of the more than 20 web sites associated with the InSites into American Religion project.

A Reflection on the State of the Pastoral Leadership

When Jackson Carroll began “Pulpit & Pew,” his large research project on pastoral leadership, he considered pastors a “troubled profession,” and braced himself for what his investigation might reveal.

But five years of study, including a major national telephone survey and 23 focus groups across the country, convinced Carroll his gloomy forecast didn’t stand up.

“I came away with a much more positive picture than I expected, particularly when it came to clergy satisfaction and a commitment to their calling,” said Carroll. His book summarizing his research — God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Eerdmans) — has just been published.

In it, Carroll cites a telling statistic: Six out of 10 pastors said they had never doubted their call in the last five years, and seven out of 10 said they had never considered leaving ordained ministry for a secular job — hardly the picture of a troubled profession.

That doesn’t mean the profession is without problems, as Carroll reports in the book. First, there are the cultural challenges — a decline in the authority traditionally granted pastors and the rise of a consumer mentality that views church as just one of many options on a Sunday morning.  Good pastors handle these challenges by making the gospel as compelling as possible, Carroll said. 

But then there are structural challenges within the profession, perhaps foremost a lack of adequate compensation. While senior pastors of large congregations earn competitive salaries, those working in small congregations do not. Ordained Protestant pastors working in congregations of 100 people or less received a median salary and housing package of $31,234; the average Roman Catholic priest even less. For Protestants, that means spouses must work too, eliminating the traditional role in which the pastor’s wife served as an unpaid assistant.

Then there are health issues — 78 percent of all clergy are either overweight or obese. Others don’t manage well the boundary between work and play, or don’t have the kind of close personal friendships that allow pastors to stay connected and to avoid feelings of isolation.

Carroll, whose conclusions have appeared previously in Pulpit & Pew research reports (www.pulpitandpew.duke.edu), brings it all together in this new book. He examines a host of issues including women clergy and bi-vocational clergy, but he focuses on senior and solo pastors, looking at how they spend their time, the number of hours they work, the books they read, the leadership style they prefer.

Lastly, Carroll, whose research was funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., devotes two chapters to exploring excellence in ministry.  

“There are clergy who are sadly ordinary,” he said in an interview recently. “They don’t rise above the level of mediocrity, but there are those who exhibit excellence.”  While God’s Potters does not include in-depth case studies of excellence, it does raise the key issues Carroll, a retired sociologist of religion from Duke Divinity School, sees as important.

He points out that excellence in ministry should not be measured with the same yardsticks businesses use — profitability and growth. But the corporate world does provide some valuable measures that church leaders could use — whether an organization has a clear vision, whether it instills that vision in others and provides them with the training to do their jobs well.

Beyond those secular measures, Carroll identifies a number of attributes that characterize excellent pastoral leadership.

Among them is resiliency, the ability to stand behind moral and theological convictions when the larger society does not; agility, the ability to creatively respond to different challenges; and a commitment to meaningful friendships, what Carroll calls “holy friendships,” that keep pastors connected.

As important, Carroll writes, pastors need to be lifelong learners. In this respect, pastors don’t do too well. Asked what they read most often, most Protestant pastors cited books with a pragmatic emphasis on the practice of ministry rather than theological works, literature or poetry.

But finally, Carroll writes, excellent pastors are those who learn the old-fashioned way through mentors and colleagues they look up to.

“Excellence is best developed through apprenticeship,” he said, “both during seminary and in the early years of ministry, though the guidance of wise mentors and colleagues.”

If your goal is to uncover some of the best and most useful resources for congregational life, look no further than the Congregational Resource Guide web site (CRG) www.congregationalresources.org.  The Alban Institute and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations teamed up to create this Internet-based guide to help congregational leaders connect with resources that enable them to face challenges and foster vitality in their communities of faith.

There are so many resources available today for church leaders that it is often difficult to know which ones are most helpful.  For this reason, the Guide is highly selective and only lists resources that persons who work with churches have nominated as the best available. In the CRG, you will find information about books, Internet resources, videos, organizations and more.  Of course, quite a few of the resources are Alban Institute books, but many listings come from other resource providers as well.

The site contains a valuable collection of information for clergy and congregations.  It offers annotated summaries in a language and style that many pastors would find appealing and helpful.  This allows the user to quickly determine whether a resource would assist them or not. The information is arranged in a logical and consistent manner that is in line with the needs of clergy and topical distinctions in which they might look for such information. 

The Congregational Resource Guide isn’t just a portal into the resources of others; there are a number of original features that are quite worth checking out.  One section of the site includes six special reports written specifically to address particular issues such as mental health ministry or resources for African American churches.  The listing of these can be found at www.congregationalresources.org/SpecialRpts.asp. 

The other must see section is labeled “online tutorials.”  These tutorials (which can be printed as pdf documents) are user-friendly guides for engaging congregations in new organizational learning paths around topics such as bringing in seekers, creative peacemaking, and stewardship.  These resources are available for free at http://www.congregationalresources.org/OnlineTutorials.asp.   

This site is a great resource particularly for mainline and other Protestant congregations; however, there are also significant sections for Catholic and Jewish congregations.  One visit to the site and the user is sure to find tools and resources that will benefit his or her congregation no matter what the faith tradition. 

Just what are Christian Practices ?

There is a lot of talk these days about strengthening congregations through the use of "practices." If you are wondering what that is all about, the Practicing Our Faith web site has a very interesting essay on this topic that is worth reading. Check it out at www.practicingourfaith.org/prct_what_are_practices.html

And just in time for summer camp and Vacation Bible Schools, another hidden resource on the Practicing Our Faith site has several curriculum guides focused on exploring Christian Practices.  www.practicingourfaith.org/cfm/library/index.cfm?subject=28

Looking for resources to help you teach about religion?

The Association of Religion Data Archive site has a series of tools for educational and planning purposes. Learning modules www.thearda.com/learningModules/ provide structured class assignments and the many online tools allow students to explore religious beliefs, attitudes and behavior across the globe or in their own backyard.  A Community Profile Builder www.thearda.com/profile/ offers church and community leaders assistance in finding free online information for building a profile of the social, educational, economic, and religious characteristics of the communities they serve. These are two great features you

The "Using the News to Teach Religion" section on the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly Web site has been redesigned. It is an online resource for high school and college religion teachers featuring streaming video of a class at Colgate University, interviews with professors at Colgate and other colleges and universities around the country, course materials, essays, and a free DVD.  Check out this valuable resource at www.pbs.org/religion/teach.
 
And don't miss the dozens of lesson plans for elementary, middle school and high school teachers on topics ranging from religion and civil rights to bioethics, immigration, and women in Islam that the site offers.  It is a great resource for teachers and can be found at www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/teachers/plans.html

Check out the latest data on the 250 member schools of The Association of Theological Schools at www.ats.edu/Resources/FactBook/2006/2005-06%20Annual%20Data%20Tables.pdf This data includes selected information on the member schools, enrollment, finances, funds development, and faculty. The annual data provides a snapshot of graduate theological education in the U.S. and Canada.

Several features on the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship are now available in a RSS format, including podcasts and the weblogs at www.calvin.edu/worship/rss.  The weblog continues to add postings such as a Report on 'With A Shout' Ascension conference, Thoughts on "The Liturgy of Theory", and Leadership in an Attentive Congregation.

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) www.TheARDA.com recently redesigned its website, as well as added new features, in order to give the general public increased access to the highest quality and most comprehensive data on American and international religion.

Among the ARDA’s newest features are statistical and descriptive profiles of nations and regions around the world, providing figures on religious adherents and religious freedoms.  The new international data section features national profiles that include indexes on religious freedom and regulation recently created by the ARDA’s staff. The indexes are unique in that they provide measures for the social regulation of religion and are based on data sources that have previously been inaccessible to researchers.  

News

The Web site of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly www.pbs.org/religion, a PBS production of Thirteen/WNET, was nominated this year for the 10th Annual Webby Awards in Religion and Spirituality.

Leading Lives That Matter is a new anthology edited by Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass. Find out about this book and read an interview with the authors at the Practicing Our Faith web page www.practicingourfaith.org/bookstore_related.html

The Wabash Center will host a Colloquy for Mid-Career Faculty Teaching at Theological Schools in Summer 2007 www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/programs/2007_workshop3.html
Application Deadline: January 31, 2007
Beginning in Summer 2007 the Wabash Center will also offer workshops for PRE-TENURE Theological School Faculty www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/programs/2007_workshop1.html and  PRE-TENURE Religion Faculty at Colleges and Universities www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/programs/2007_workshop2.html both have an application deadline of January 31, 2007.

The Tech Tips section will include handy items of interest regarding web resources, techniques for Internet searching and browsing and other facts to facilitate doing ministry in our technological world.

Worried about the legitimacy of the research you find on the web?

Try Google’s Scholar Search function to explore only those articles and research published in academically reputable journals and books.  Unfortunately, however, many of the references point to JSTOR and other subscription based electronic archives

Need the Start Menu in a hurry?

Most folks don’t use the key, but if you push the key with the Microsoft Windows logo on it, the start menu will pop up. You can get the “task manager” quickly too.  If you don’t want to push Ctrl, Alt and Del, then just right click on bottom task bar and choose the task manager option.

A great tool for computer cleaning!

We often suggest that folks regularly clean up their computer. There is a great freeware program to help with this task. CCleaner is a great tool to find and delete all the old cache files, cookies, old log files, browser history, etc. Check it out at www.ccleaner.com/

BE SAFE, remember to update the virus definitions, programs and operating system on your computer!

About InSites into American Religion:

InSites is a quarterly E-newsletter designed to educate the public about the web resources from religion institutes and projects related to the initiatives in religion of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. This is a joint project of Scott Thumma, Hartford Seminary and Joe Coalter, Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education.  Scott Thumma is the newsletter editor.

An abbreviated version of the e-newsletter is distributed quarterly via email.  If you would like to receive this email please send a subscription email to InSites@hartsem.edu and request either the html or text version.  An Adobe pdf version of the newsletter is available online for printing and distributing.  To open a pdf document you must have the free Adobe reader installed on your computer.  Download the program at  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.   Everyone is free to print and distribute the newsletter.  Permission to excerpt and reprint portions of the newsletter content is hereby given.

Send an email to InSites@hartsem.edu for more information about the newsletter or to offer suggestions and feedback.

An archive of previous issues is available at the Resources for American Christianity web site at www.resourcingchristianity.org

Please forward the newsletter to a Friend!