Intentionally provocative, Alban founder and former president Loren Mead's dynamic work sets out dramatic and compelling challenges for today's churches. Mead chose the word "meltdown"-a strong term, indeed-very carefully and consciously. His clarion call urges congregations to direct attention to their dwindling financial resources and their unreliable fiscal practices, and to take major action now-or face disaster in the future. Mead addresses changing church giving patterns; the inconsistent ways congregations keep financial records; the lack of coordinated short- and long-range planning; the need for knowledge of sound financial techniques such as accounting for inflation; an over-reliance on "restructuring" to fix problems; and lack of defensive planning for operational costs.

Loren B. Mead, an Episcopal priest, founded the Alban Institute in 1974, Since his retirement as Alban president in 1993, he has continued to consult with congregations, lecture, and write. He is also the author of The Once and Future Church, Transforming Congregations for the Future, and--his latest title--A Change of Paators...and How it Affacts Change in the Congregation.