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Fall 2007: Reading Recommendations
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"What shall I read?"
Wondering what books would most inspire and inform you—and other leaders—as you and your congregation engage in new opportunities to learn, grow, and serve? Congregational Resource Guide staff ask you to consider these top pics. (Click on the book's title to access the publisher's Web site and ordering information. Or if you prefer, click on "Amazon" at the end of each annotation to order the book from Amazon.)
We at the Alban Institute and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations wish you and yours a vital and transformational season.
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Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America's Largest Churches
Scott Thumma, Dave Travis, Authors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
Defining "megachurches" as Protestant congregations with Sunday attendances of 2000 or more, Hartford Institute sociologist Scott Thumma has collaborated with church consultant Dave Travis to expose common myths about the megachurch in our culture. Among the most notable misconceptions: all megachurches are alike; they are personality cults; they are self-absorbed; they "water down the faith"; they grow because they are entertaining; they threaten other churches; they include only people of the same class, race, or political preferences; and they are dying out. With a bibliography and an appendix documenting survey data used in the authors' research, this book is essential for those seeking to understand megachurches.
Amazon
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The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas
Jean-Pierre Isbouts, Author. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2007.
This lush collection of photos, articles, and maps explores the geography of the Fertile Crescent, or Holy Land. Arranged according to biblical chronology, the atlas offers an introduction to each biblical segment, historical and contemporary maps, and sidebars highlighting significant aspects of daily life in biblical times. The three Abrahamic faith traditions are discussed—beginning with Judaism (and its growth from the early tribes to the kingdom of Israel), proceeding to Christianity (and its emergence in the Greco-Roman world), and concluding with Islam (and its rise in the Middle East). The intersection of the sacred with family life, farming, and ancient commercial enterprises is also examined.
Amazon
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The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs
Brian Bailey, Terry Storch, Authors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
After defining a "blog" and explaining how blogs have become key communication tools, The Blogging Church addresses three central questions posed by churches considering a blog: "Why should my church embrace blogging?; What can blogs accomplish? How can we get started?" It also helps congregations avoid building bad blogs and alerts leaders to common problems with blogs. Chapters on such topics as "RSS" and podcasting—as well as comments from such veteran bloggers as Mark Driscoll and Tony Morgan—round out this accessible and informative introduction to the blogging world and its role in congregational life. Here is a must-read for congregations seriously considering blogs.
Amazon
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Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites
Lynne M. Baab, Author. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006.
Lynne Baab discusses fasting as an opportunity to gain new experience, awareness, and insight into the presence of the Divine in our lives. For Baab, fasting is about freedom: "The freedom to make time to read the Bible and draw near to God. The freedom to pray passionately for the needs of people near and far. The freedom to listen to God and change the direction of our prayers. The freedom to feel the full range of human emotions mirrored so passionately in the Psalms." She explains how this freedom—arising from temporarily and thoughtfully relinquishing food, drink, the Internet, or other habit-forming products and activities—can nurture spiritual growth.
Amazon
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God and Country: America in Red and Blue
Sheila Kennedy, Author. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007.
Law professor Sheila Kennedy states, "the thesis of this book is that much of what divides Americans these days is rooted in our particular religious histories, and that our seeming inability to address our differences constructively is exacerbated by a profound misunderstanding of the ways in which those religious roots manifest themselves." Kennedy examines religious factors informing cultural divisions in current American politics. Unlike other books that draw stark lines between people of faith and secularists, God and Country helps us understand religious diversity and the paradigms—or "frameworks of meaning"—that give rise to this diversity. It also helps us evaluate democratic processes and engage in mutually beneficial dialogue.
Amazon
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Healthy Disclosure: Solving Communication Quandaries in Congregations
Kibbie Simmons Ruth, Karen A. McClintock, Authors. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2007.
Consultants Kibbie Ruth and Karen McClintock show congregational leaders how to appropriately handle sensitive information—including information related to a staff dismissal or a current rumor. They explain how and when to reveal information, the difference between privacy and secrecy, legal issues related to public knowledge, and the power of secrets from a congregation's past. Three assumptions inform the authors' work: that leaders must be conscious of what they are doing with the information they have; that leaders must take sensitive information seriously; and that knowledge is power. Ruth and McClintock believe that bad communication habits can be eliminated and that "congregations can achieve transparency in their communication."
Amazon
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Mandate to Difference: An Invitation to the Contemporary Church
Walter Brueggemann, Author. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.
Walter Brueggemann provocatively explores the complexity of faithful living and ministry amid contemporary forces that vie for the control of our attention and allegiance. These essays are wide ranging—probing such topics as forgiveness, welcome, hope, Sabbath-keeping, the need for theological certainty, and the use of the Bible in American Christianity. What holds them together is Brueggemann's insistence that "the church in this demanding moment of its life must recover and re-embrace its missional identity that sets it in significant tension with major political-economic-ideological developments in U.S. society." Also central is his conviction that—at its root—faith is about "openness to wonder" and "awe in glad praise."
Amazon
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Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage
Arthur J. Majida, Author. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006.
What significance do religious rites of passage hold for those who go through them? When a bar-or bat-mitzvah occurs, when a Christian confirmation takes place, when a secular woman suddenly commits her time to a Zen community or a secular man suddenly commits his life to Allah, how are lives transformed? And what difference does it make? How do these rites shape, or fail to shape, people's lives? Arthur Majida (writer-in-residence at the University of Baltimore and columnist for www.beliefnet.com) seeks answers by interviewing representatives of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions. Included are thoughts from Bob Abernethy, Huston Smith, Harold Kushner, Elie Wiesel, and others.
Amazon
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Philosophy Made Simple: A Novel
Robert Hellenga, Author. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2006.
Seven years after the death of his wife, empty-nester Rudy Harrington sells his Chicago home and purchases an avocado grove in Texas. He also begins probing Plato, Hume, and Schopenhauer as he reads Philosophy Made Simple, a college text by Siva Singh. Why the sudden interest in philosophy from someone who had never studied it in college? Rudy, explains the author, "wanted to ponder the great mysteries before it was too late." Interesting twists occur when Rudy attempts to plan a Hindu wedding between his daughter and Singh's nephew. Among the more colorful characters in the novel is Norma Jean, an elephant gifted in creating abstract paintings.
Amazon
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The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes
William Ury, Author. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 2007.
If you are a congregational leader who sometimes equates "loving your neighbor" with giving in to others' demands, this book is for you. Author William Ury observes that many of us react to others by accommodating them (saying "yes" when we need to say "no"), attacking them (getting angry over others' demands), or avoiding them (hoping the demands will go away). Instead, we need to proactively identify what we affirm and why; prepare and deliver our "no" to those things that work against what we affirm; and invite others into a satisfactory agreement with us. Using numerous examples, this book provides the skills for claiming and framing a positive "no."
Amazon
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Spiritual, but not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America
Robert C. Fuller, Author. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Robert Fuller tells us that close to forty percent of Americans are not connected to organized religion, yet ninety percent have faith in a higher power. At the same time, twenty-one percent of those unaffiliated with a religious institution can be considered "religious." The phrase, "spiritual but not religious," signals the tension between personal spirituality and church or synagogue membership. This book examines the historical, sociological, and psychological factors that draw people into an "unchurched spirituality" and explains the appeal of these factors. It also challenges the notion that such spirituality lacks maturity, documenting the willingness of the "spiritual but not religious" to test their beliefs against reason and experience.
Amazon
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Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism
Martha Grace Reese, Author. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2006.
Defining evangelism as "anything you do to help another person move closer to a relationship with God, or into Christian community," Martha Grace Reese shares the results of her four-year evangelism research project funded by Lilly Endowment. She discusses evangelism in mainline churches today, presents stories of churches that are effectively sharing their faith, and helps readers tap into their own evangelistic spirit. Accessible information is presented in short chapters that combine scriptural references, tools, and exercises. Effective evangelism is based on strong and life-giving relationships with God, the congregation, and those outside the congregation. This book helps readers identify and act on those relationships.
Amazon
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