Extreme Shul Makeover!

The JTA has posted seven articles on the movement towards independent minyanim, alternative synagogue models, and other experiments in community and prayer.

For a shul to prosper it must become more than a glorified bar mitzvah factory. To energize members and attract new ones, synagogues are turning to the personal trainers of the Jewish world, congregational makeover programs that aspire to help synagogues be all they can be. How successful are they?

The site is part of a huge discussion about new forms of prayer community being held across the Jewish blogsphere - for example, see this posting at on the question of the future role of rabbis in light of the independent minyanim movement, or this one at Mah Rabu on the "trichitza" model for pluralistic prayer.