The Alban Institute is closing shop after 40 years as an independent consulting, educational and publishing firm catering to mainline Protestants, directors of the Herndon, Va.,-based nonprofit announced March 19.
As of March 31, Alban Institute consultants will work either individually or under a new banner of “Congregational Consulting,” board chair Case Hoogendoorn said in a letter on the ministry website.
Educational events after April 1 will either be canceled or transferred to another sponsor.
Alban recently sold its publishing program, which features authors including Peter Steinke, Roy Oswald and Diana Butler Bass, to Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, headquartered in Lanham, Md.
Founded in 1974 by Loren Mead, an ordained Episcopal priest and pioneer in congregational studies who authored bestselling books including “The Once and Future Church,” the Alban Institute emerged as a go-to resource on issues like conflict, transition and mission in congregational and ministerial life.
With the rise of other organizations offering similar services and changes in publishing, Hoogendoorn said the time has come for Alban’s leaders to “embrace the kind of radical change that has been so successful for the congregations they counsel.”
(ABP)
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