Alban Institute Announces Closure
The respected Alban Institute, founded in 1974 with a mission of helping congregations build their future, has announced that they are closing as of the end of this March—ten days from now!
Their consultants will now work independently. Their educational programs scheduled for April are canceled. Their publishing operation has been acquired by Rowman & Littlefield. They are working with Duke Divinity School to create an endowment with the remaining assets. The endowment would further their work in providing assets to assist congregations.
WOW!
The experts in leading faith communities in their discernment processes for the future are calling it quits.
I sensed trouble when they discontinued their Weekly Forum. It just disappeared a year or so ago. They used to invite comments at the end of their posts and suddenly they provided no such options.
No problem. People have their own platforms for comments these days. And we used ours!
The Alban Institute was never good at social media. Their forum was moderated and comments were subject to approval. That often took days—which of course doesn’t encourage engagement.
Very recently I read that they intended to improve this and make forums available to program participants. More vetting. Now they are giving up on that approach!
In general, the Church doesn’t understand social media. Had Alban Institute mastered modern communication skills, they might not be closing!
In short, the trend makers had trouble keeping up.
This is a sign that traditional church structure is going to have similar problems.
I enjoyed reading Alban Institute articles, which were mostly posted to help sell books. Even so, I felt like an outsider. The forum was top-heavy with clergy as can be expected.
But that’s just it. Today’s church needs to empower laity — not as servants of clergy or church structure and not just to fund professional endeavors.
The church needs to empower laity to use their skills. All of their skills—without vetting every effort. Adult lay workers do not need to have their homework signed every night.
Lay people have many of the same skill sets that clergy are expected to have. They also have valuable complementary skills. Some lay people are great motivators and leaders. Some are great speakers and communicators. Some are financial wizards. Some are gifted teachers. Some have an eye for injustice. Some are passionate and compassionate caretakers.
But the structure of the church still insists that all of these skills be exercised under the control of an unwieldy structure and approved by people who have no expertise in the skills they are judging. Sometimes this process is congenial and welcoming. Sometimes it is judgmental and exclusive. It has existed this way for a very long time.
But now people in the church have options.
Alban Institute’s announcement said that their stable of consultants and advisors would continue to be available, working independently. That’s the wave of the future!
Congregations will soon discover that they can serve out their missions better without all the structure, too.