The Parish Is the Issue: What I Learned and How I Learned It

by Loren B Mead

• Memoir of respected and nationally known founder of The Alban Institute• Reflections on changes in congregational development theory over 40 yearsNavigating the treacherous waters of congregational and cultural change can be daunting, but knowing that others have come safely through those waters before can make the journey less unsettling. As founder and president of The Alban Institute, Loren Mead helped hundreds of churches steer around the shoals and whirlpools. In this new book, he reflects on what he learned over five decades of ministry and leadership, and offers inspiration for a new generation of leaders seeking to create change.

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

Reviews

[Aaron Summers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long Biography of the Alban Institute

I had hoped this book would be more insightful than it is. It is 98% biography. The only useful tools found near the end of the book with his quadrant evaluation tool.

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a small group phone discussion with the author, Loren Mead. It contains his reflections on nearly forty years of association with the organization known as the Alban Institute, and its predecessor Project Test Pattern. In the book, Mead reflects on the trends he has seen in congregational life and in judicatory leadership, in mainline denominations.

From the perspective of history, this book is interesting. I'd give it five stars. However, from the "So What?" perspective, I found the book less helpful. It was tremendously reassuring to read that Mead and his colleagues saw the beginnings of congregational decline, across denominations in the 1980s. However, that data doesn't much help those of us who are working in churches now, heirs of that decline that began more than 30 years ago.

I appreciated what Mead did share. I just wanted more.

[Daniel Weir · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who have benefited, as I have, from the work of the Alban Institute, Loren Mead's book provides a brief history of Alban's work and some valuable insights into what made it so important. Mead's interest in and commitment to congregations was evident in all his writing and teaching. In this book we get an account of how that commitment was formed in him. In telling his story Mead also tells at least part of the story of the Mainline churches during the past fifty years, a story of decline in numbers and influence, but also a story of transformation. For Mead the disestablishment of Christianity in the United States has in it the seeds of the renewal of congregations as disciple communities.