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Spring 2004: Reading Recommendations
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"What shall I read?"
Wondering what books would most inspire and inform you—and other leaders—as the days lengthen during the spring? Congregational Resource Guide staff ask you to consider these top pics. (Click on the book’s title or image to access the publisher’s or retailer’s Web site.)
We at the Alban Institute and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations wish you and yours hope and blessings during this season of renewal.
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Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx
Heidi B. Neumark, Author. Boston: Beacon Press, 2003.
Heidi Neumark, a white Lutheran pastor from a privileged background, began pastoring the South Bronx’s Transfiguration Lutheran Church in 1984. This predominantly Hispanic and African American congregation was situated in an area plagued with sewage treatment plants, racial divisions, decaying tenements, and gang violence. Breathing Space chronicles the restoration and renewal of this church and neighborhood through God’s grace and the community of saints who found hope in the midst of despair. Neumark and members of Transfiguration developed after-school programs, participated in building low-income housing, and supported one another through personal tribulations. Congregational leaders will find inspiration in Neumark’s stories.
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Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles
Walter Brueggemann, Author. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.
Cadences of Home identifies and vividly describes the consumer culture from which Christians now find themselves in exile. The author challenges preachers to respond by moving into a new evangelism—grounded in the prophets’ trust of God’s steadfast love, covenant of peace, and compassion. This, he says, will move baptized people away from the marginality and despair that come with cultural exile, into a "zone of freedom" and anticipation of God’s stunning newness. Offering insights into the huge cultural shift of our times, this book invites us to move out of old habits of thought into new energy and inspiration.
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Church Planting in the African American Context
Hozell C. Francis, Author. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999.
While explaining many principles applicable to church planting in any community, this book addresses some cultural issues particular to developing and evaluating a ministry among African Americans. The author addresses the importance of the vision for a new church, case studies of a variety of congregations, the central role of the pastor, and specific obstacles that may be encountered. A model for planting churches involving a sponsoring local church or denomination is outlined in some detail. The book is a practical overview for church planters and for denominations or congregations that are considering whether to sponsor a church planting effort.
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Find a Niche and Scratch It: Marketing Your Congregation
Robert L. Perry, Author. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 2003.
Robert Perry convincingly shows how churches can use the concept of "niche marketing" in the secular world to reach a certain segment of the population. In order to do this, a church should identify its strengths, discover the unmet needs in its area, become familiar with the niche group, be creative in trying to meet those needs, and take the ministry to the people. This practical book would be an excellent resource for a church of any size that wants to step beyond its walls and try to reach a neglected segment of its surrounding population.
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Gospel-Telling: The Art and Theology of Children’s Sermons
Richard J. Coleman, Author. Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Company, 2002.
In this book on children’s sermons, Richard Coleman argues that the gospel must be presented so that children can experience it. His "ten commandments of gospel-telling" provide a concise set of reminders for those preparing stories to teach or preach to children. Coleman suggests that children’s sermons fall into seven categories: (1) let’s pretend; (2) visual demonstrations; (3) dramatic participation; (4) pantomime and echo; (5) stories; (6) parables; and (7) prophetic messages. He provides samples of successful (and less successful) children’s sermons in each category. This book will be useful to pastors, educators, parents, and others who teach children.
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Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations
Gil Rendle and Alice Mann, Authors. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 2003.
Congregational planning is often presented as a technical process: the leader is the chief problem solver, and the goal is finding "the solution to the problem." But Gil Rendle and Alice Mann cast planning as a "holy conversation," a congregational discernment process about three critical questions: (1) Who are we? (2) What has God called us to do or be? (3) Who is our neighbor? Rendle and Mann equip congregational leaders with a broad range of tools for planning. By choosing the resources that best suit their needs, congregations can find a path that is faithful to their identity and their relationship with God.
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The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage
Paul Elie, Author. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.
Paul Elie has written a multiple biography on four of the twentieth century’s most influential Catholic literary figures. He illustrates how Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, and Flannery O’Connor integrated the theme of pilgrimage into their work. He also analyzes the literary pilgrimages each of them embarked upon during lifetimes devoted to reading, writing, and contemplation. It is a story of how the Catholic faith took on new and unanticipated forms. And it is about the power of literature to make sense of our experience in ways that might transform our lives.
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The Price of Faith: Exploring Our Choices about Money and Wealth
Marie Cross, Author. Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2002.
Marie Cross attempts to broaden our understanding of "stewardship," to challenge the choices we make about money and wealth, and (in the process) to help us grow together in faith. The first section of her book claims that, understood most fully, "stewardship" is a descriptive term for "discipleship." Later chapters offer the biblical and theological foundations for the ten discussion sessions that are outlined as lesson plans, each with its own clearly defined purpose. This book makes a good resource for an adult study or a church board that wants to take stewardship, discipleship, and mission seriously.
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Recovering the Sacred Center: Church Renewal from the Inside Out
Howard E. Friend, Jr., Author. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1998.
Using metaphor, story, and reflection, Howard Friend develops a theological and practical guide to congregational renewal. In reaction to more task-oriented strategies, this book offers new ways to think about the process of congregational change. Friend explores the concept of "sacred center"—something that is akin to a true or best self and at the same time closely connected to the divine. The author then applies this concept to the life of congregations. Building a theoretical foundation for renewal, and offering rich examples to illuminate it, this book is a valuable guide for congregations in search of renewed vitality.
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Scripture on the Silver Screen
Adele Reinhartz, Author. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.
Scripture on the Silver Screen encourages biblical literacy through a reflective study of those contemporary films that—implicitly or explicitly—echo scriptural narratives. Religion professor Adele Reinhartz examines the inclusion of biblical themes in such popular movies as Dead Man Walking, Fried Green Tomatoes, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Truman Show, and The Sixth Sense. As the book’s introduction points out, "Knowledge of the Bible is important not only for understanding the masterpieces of Western civilization; looking at Hollywood films through the lens of the Bible also reveals the importance of scripture for our ability to appreciate popular culture."
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Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life
Julia Cameron, Author. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999.
From the author of The Artist’s Way, this book of prayers and affirmations explores the spiritual dimensions of change. Change is an inevitable part of life, and Cameron offers suggestions for turning transition from a fearful, conflicted time into an opportunity for renewal and growth. Believing that the process of writing helps us to "right" things, the author encourages and helps readers to write prayers of their own. This book could serve as a useful tool in pastoral care and spiritual direction, as well as for congregational groups or classes centered on prayer, journaling, or mutual support during transitional times.
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When the Members are the Missionaries
A. Wayne Schwab, Author. Essex, NY: Member Mission Press, 2002.
Wayne Schwab asserts that the work of being the church is not sustaining a maintenance organization, but supporting individual members as they discover their unique calling to serve in the "mission fields" of daily life: home, work, the local community, the wider world, leisure, and the faith community. Together, these individual missions become the revitalized church. An effective church is one that sustains missionaries in a strong partnership. Included in this book are examples of fifteen individual missions, materials to discern and support missionaries, a process for congregational transformation, and models for judicatory and national church restructuring.
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