Mike Mather has spent most of his adult life pastoring churches in neighborhoods most people would call ”deprived.” Not Mike. When he greets someone at the food pantry or on the street, he’s more apt to see their gifts than their ”needs.” And he sees those things in part because he asks the right questions.…
Over the last couple of decades, the field of practical theology has increasingly drawn on methods from the social sciences. Most especially, people seeking to understand the theological wisdom of a community have practiced ethnographic methods for gathering information and analyzing what they find – much as we describe in this website on ”studying congregations.” …
An important part of the culture of every congregation is the music they experience together. Whether it is the pipe-organ-accompanied hymns sung in a grand gothic cathedral or the a capella singing of a ”non-instrumental” Church of Christ or the chant of a cantor at Yom Kippur or the festive dance of a Hindu festival…
Understanding a congregation’s context is complicated these days – but never more important. The communities where congregations reside are a complex mix of changing demographics, shifting economies – and politics. Understanding ourselves and our neighbors is a critical first step toward finding new ways to talk to each other and work together. The challenges were…
The Congregational Library and Archives in Boston has the exciting task of preserving – and helping others to preserve – the history of some of the earliest communities of faith in America. They rescue documents from attics and basements, digitize them, and make them accessible. While their work is unique, it offers clues to how…