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Congregations have a unique ability to respond to community needs, organizing people for service in ways that are both effective and satisfying. Identify the tools and tap the energies for transforming your congregation and community.
PUBLIC MINISTRY : Community Ministry
  Acting On Your Faith: A Guide to Success in Service and Social Action (Book)
Victor N. Claman, David E. Butler, Authors.
Boston, MA: Insights, 1994.
This book is a practical and inspirational guide for those interested in empowering congregations to be fully involved in community ministry and in helping create needed, positive change through advocacy, service and social action.
Community Ministry: New Challenges, Proven Steps to Faith-Based Initiatives (Book)
Carl S. Dudley, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2002.
After exploring the changes that have created challenges and opportunities for congregations establishing social ministries, Carl Dudley outlines a four-part model for effectively sharing God’s love in the community.
The Externally Focused Church (Book)
Rick Rusaw, Eric Swanson, Authors.
Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, 2004.
"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." This book explains why a church should be externally focused, what an externally focused church accomplishes, and, how a church can start or improve upon community service.
 Family Promise: Building Communities, Strengthening Lives (Organization)
Through independent affiliates in numerous states, Family Promise responds to homelessness by providing food, shelter and support services for homeless persons; advocacy on behalf of at-risk families; and education about poverty.
Next Steps in Community Ministry: Hands-On Leadership (Book)
Carl S. Dudley, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 1998.
As a follow-up to Dudley’s Basic Steps In Community Ministry, this book identifies the motivation, organization, and resources most commonly found in effective community ministry.
Public Offerings: Stories from the Front Lines of Community Ministry (Book)
Linda-Marie Delloff, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2002.
Rather than a ‘how-to’ guide, this book offers the stories of great community ministries—and most importantly, the people, process, and transforming power behind them.
Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church (Book)
Joy Skjegstad, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2002.
This book, replete with thorough checklists and charts, will help any congregation seeking to start a nonprofit the correct way the first time. It also assists congregations in deciding if this is really what they need to be doing at all.
 And You Welcomed Me: A Sourcebook on Hospitality in Early Christianity (Book)
Amy G. Ogden, Editor.
Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001.
Amy Ogden shows that hospitality was deeply embedded within early Christianity. With interest in "spiritual practices" on the rise, this book should satisfy those seeking an historical context for spiritual disciplines.
Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx (Book)
Heidi B. Neumark, Author.
Warwick, RI: Beacon Press, 2003.
Heidi Neumark began pastoring the South Bronx’s Transfiguration Lutheran Church in 1984. Breathing Space chronicles the renewal of this church and neighborhood through God’s grace and those who found hope in the midst of despair.
 Considering Charitable Choice (Article)
Eileen W. Lindner, Author.
2001.
This article examines the experience of faith-based organizations during the first few years since the passage of the Charitable Choice provision of the legislation that reformed the welfare system.
 A Disturbing Approach to Social Justice Ministry: Challenging What's Comfortable (Web Resource)
Urging churches to balance pastoral with prophetic ministry, Doug Bailey prays for God to "disturb" churches from comfort zones into bold ministry. In this interview, he draws on his immersion learning workshops and urban ministry experiences.
Future Search: An Action Guide to Finding Common Ground in Organizations & Communities (Book)
Marvin Weisbord, Sandra Janoff, Authors.
San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2000.
Future Search describes a planning process for groups who seek to create a vision for their community, enable stakeholders to discover shared vision and take responsibility for their plans, or implement an existing shared vision.
Leading Diverse Communities: A How-To Guide for Moving from Healing Into Action (Book)
Cherie R. Brown, George J. Mazza, Authors.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2005.
Leading Diverse Communities will help leaders welcome diversity, work through their own stereotypes and misinformation, resolve conflicts, communicate across group lines, and develop vital intergroup leadership skills.
Lending Your Leadership: How Pastors Are Redefining Their Role in Community Life (Book)
Nelson Granade, Author.
Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2006.
Nelson Granade challenges church leaders to move beyond the congregation and into the larger community, where he contends they have unique contributions to make—and through his own experience he shows how it can be done.
National Coalition for the Homeless (Organization)
Members of the National Coalition for the Homeless raise public awareness of hunger and homelessness and provide policy advocacy, education, and technical assistance needed to alleviate and ultimately end homelessness.
Partnerships between Health Care and Faith-Based Organizations (Book)
National Center for Cultural Competence, 2001.
Beginning with the observation that 43 million Americans lack health insurance, this report argues for building safety nets through partnerships between health care and faith-based organizations.
The Polis Center (Organization)
The role of the church in mid-size cities is a major focus of research and publications provided by Indiana's Polis Center.
The Prophetic Imagination (Book)
Walter Brueggemann, Author.
Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001.
The Prophetic Imagination passionately urges congregations to reclaim God’s freedom and to pursue the purposes of justice, compassion, and equality as those to which the divine has called us all.
Public Religion and Urban Transformation: Faith in the City (Book)
Lowell Livezey, Author.
New York, NY: New York University Press, 2000.
Taking a "bottom-up" Chicago School sociological approach, the book is based largely on in-depth ethnographic studies of more than 75 diverse, mostly urban congregations in eight neighborhoods.
Shepherd’s Centers of America (Organization)
Congregations interested in developing a center for seniors will find the Shepherd’s Centers of America (SCA) valuable. The SCA helps to establish and support centers that provide life enhancement opportunities for older adults.
Social Ministry: An Urgent Agenda for Pastors and Churches (Book)
Haskell M. Miller, Author.
Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2000.
Noting the relationship between the personal and spiritual life and social experience, Haskell Miller presents a broadly stroked vision of the biblical and spiritual basis for social ministry by the church, and suggests possibilities for specific ministr
Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide, 4th Edition (Book)
Bruce R. Hopkins, Author.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004.
Bruce Hopkins sets out in this fourth edition of Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization to "translate the intricacies of the law (for nonprofits)…and to make them understandable to non-lawyer-managers of 'nonprofits'…"
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