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Summer 2004: Reading Recommendations
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“What shall I read?”
Wondering what books would most inspire and inform you—and other leaders—as you enjoy the summer while planning initiatives for the fall? Congregational Resource Guide staff offer you our "top pics" of the season. (Click on the book's title or image to access the publisher's Web site and ordering information.)
We at the Alban Institute and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations wish you and yours a summer of rest and renewal.
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Becoming Barnabas: The Ministry of Encouragement
Paul Moots, Author. Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2004.
Becoming Barnabas takes a fairly obscure character in Scripture and crafts around his actions an entire way to do ministry. With congregational pastors and lay leaders in mind, Paul Moots explores several biblical events in which Barnabas plays a lead role. Moots particularly looks at Barnabas’ generosity, his willingness to partner with others, and his ability to forgive as essential to the work of the church. Encouraging leadership opportunities for the entire congregation, Moots reminds us that God continually works on our hearts and minds, bringing the new life in Christ to completion. It is God working in us, always.
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Best Practices from America's Best Churches
Paul Wilkes, Marty Minchin, Editors. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2003.
In the late 1990's a Lilly Endowment grant funded a study of excellent churches in the United States. Three hundred Catholic and three hundred Protestant churches were identified and discussed in two separate books. In 2001, a pastoral summit gathered presenters from a sampling of these churches and brought hundreds of church leaders together for a dynamic conference. Best Practices from America's Best Churches is a collection of presentations from that summit. You'll find practical ideas in this lively essay collection. And by expanding your understanding of how to be and do church, you'll find a vision for reaching the spiritually hungry in your community.
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Broken We Kneel: Reflections on Faith and Citizenship
Diana Butler Bass, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2004.
"As a Christian, I trust that I have a homeland, one that is secure in God's care. But that homeland is not a political nation. I am only a sojourner, an alien citizen of the United States; by virtue of my baptism in Christian faith, my primary citizenship is in God's city." Diana Butler Bass challenges us to remember our true homeland in the face of terrorism, nationalism, and pre-emptive war. Combining historical analysis with personal reflection, Bass comments on the tensions between faithfulness to God and allegiance to country—tensions recently made stronger by government responses to the events of September 11 and popular responses to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
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Culturally-Conscious Worship
Kathy Black, Author. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2000.
After centuries of subtle and overt segregation in American churches, many denominations are taking seriously the gospel mandate to include and embrace all of God’s people in their mission and ministry. Kathy Black offers an overview of the cultural and liturgical issues that church leadership face when designing worship in multicultural congregations. This book combines the theology and theory of working in a multi-contextual world and provides a basis on which to build inclusive worship. It includes definitions of many terms associated with multiculturalism. Chapters feature discussions of cultural complexities, the motivation for churches to examine their ministry and embrace change, and the use of cultural symbols.
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Executive Values: A Christian Approach to Organizational Leadership
Kurt Senske, Author. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2003.
Is it possible to run a financially successful company and uphold the golden rule? Kurt Senske asserts that it is not only possible, but the only choice for a faithful business leader. Executive Values takes us through anecdotes of what works organizationally and what doesn't, in chapters addressing the golden rule of leadership, creating an effective organizational culture, doing the right thing, values-based strategic planning, developing and mentoring a leadership team, balancing family and professional life, and leading a life of significance. Senske offers provocative reading on issues such as becoming a servant-leader, providing just compensation, seeking out the opinions of others, and intentionally taking time to be healthy.
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Faith Works: How Faith-Based Organizations Are Changing Lives, Neighborhoods and America
Jim Wallis, Author. Berkeley, CA: 2001.
Faith Works combines Jim Wallis' theological perspectives on social justice with practical advice for organizers and advocates. The book describes living wage campaigns; initiatives on behalf of those who work in sweatshops; "Jubilee 2000" (now the "Jubilee USA Network," a movement to cancel the unpayable debt of extremely impoverished countries); and "Call to Renewal," a grassroots organization seeking to "unite churches and faith-based organizations in a biblical commitment to overcome poverty and the problems that fuel it." For those interested in further options, Wallis supplies an annotated appendix, entitled "Getting Involved." It features phone numbers and Web addresses for over 30 organizations doing social justice work.
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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Patrick M. Lencioni, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2002.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team explores the ways that teams—by failing to function as units—sabotage themselves and the organizations they were meant to serve. The author hones in on five dysfunctional behaviors or attitudes that especially lead to trouble: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. He also articulates the leadership capacities needed for restoring dysfunctional teams to health. Concluding with suggestions and exercises for teams seeking to transform themselves and their culture, this book provides valuable material for a congregational team, committee, or staff seeking to heal its own dysfunctions.
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God and the Art of Seeing: Visual Resources for a Journey of Faith
Richard Kidd, Graham Sparkes, Authors. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2003.
This thoughtful book invites readers to allow six artists to become companions for the spiritual journey. The authors argue that while neither the artists—Edvard Munch, Marc Chagall, Stanley Spencer, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, and Vincent Van Gogh—nor their works are necessarily religious, one can gain much by reflecting theologically on their lives and paintings. The authors explore the development of and influences on each artist and then focus on two paintings by each. Themes range from the meaning of struggle to the importance of place to the impact of community. God and the Art of Seeing is one volume in a collection that integrates theological thinking with contemporary life.
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The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith
Marcus Borg, Author. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.
Drawing on years of teaching and study about Jesus and the Bible, Marcus Borg offers his interpretation of the most essential aspects of Christianity. For Borg, these aspects center not on beliefs in the literal veracity of biblical narratives nor in adherence to traditional creeds, but on "loving God and loving what God loves." As such, they revolve around a devotion to practices that affirm our faith in God's presence—practices such as prayer, worship, keeping the Sabbath, and a commitment to justice and compassion for neighbors near and far. Those who have left the mainline church may find in this book a compelling invitation to return.
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Hit the Bullseye: How Denominations Can Aim the Congregation at the Mission Field
Paul D. Borden, Author. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2003.
As Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of the West, Paul Borden implemented some principles that enabled participating churches in his region to grow by 77 percent. With only 16 percent of his region's congregations growing in 1997 and 73 percent growing by 2002, Borden wrote this book to help other judicatories and denominations adapt these principles to their particular contexts. The author emphasizes that all of the church needs to engage in a mission focused beyond church walls, that ministers need to regard themselves as leaders more than as "shepherds," that developing and mentoring leaders is vital to church growth, and that significant changes require accountability.
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The House Where the Hardest Things Happened: A Memoir About Belonging
Kate Young Caley, Author. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2002.
At once the story of a family profoundly transformed by tragedy and an incisive look at the meaning of faith, The House Where the Hardest Things Happened is a compelling book about what it's like to try and find God when you've been told you don't belong. Kate Young Caley recounts the confusion she felt as a young girl, her subsequent questions concerning the Church, and her thoughtful and determined personal journey back to God. This memoir offers one woman's inspiring determination to reclaim her right to practice her beliefs—the most basic human right of all. It will especially appeal to readers of Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies.
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Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer
Arthur Green, Barry W. Holtz, Editors. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2002.
The mystic journey into the presence of the sacred crosses a landscape where, as the title of this work indicates, the only landmarks are metaphors. After the brief but meaty introduction places Hasidic literature in its historical and psychological contexts, the reader encounters carefully selected and thematically arranged excerpts from the masters. Step by step, guided by our mystic pioneers and their skillful interpreters, the contemporary seeker is emboldened to venture into the holy presence. Those who are both within and outside of the Orthodox strains of Judaism will find guidance for the practice of prayer and insights on the power of prayer to transform our lives.
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