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Summer 2008: 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 ask you to consider these top pics. (Click on the book's title to access the publisher's website 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 summer of rest and renewal.
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Earthy Mysticism: Spirituality for Unspiritual People
Tex Sample, Author. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2008.
Tex Sample—a retired seminary professor, engaging preacher, and passionate social justice advocate—says that he could never make himself spend twenty minutes every day in Bible study, his mind wanders during meditation and silent prayer, and he finds labyrinths boring. He goes on to say that Bible study and prayer play important and powerful roles in his life, but this book is all about the mystery and mysticism of the ordinary. It focuses on stories about real people and real events from Sample's own eventful and not always "deeply spiritual" life. Here are some personal, funny, harrowing, and surprisingly intimate glimpses into a well-examined life.
Amazon
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Finding the Still Point: A Spiritual Response to Stress
Tom Harpur, Author. Kelowna, BC: Northstone Publishing, 2002.
Convinced that most medically based stress reduction techniques fail to sufficiently address the causes of stress, Anglican priest Tom Harpur argues for spiritually grounded forms of meditation that can function as powerful sources of healing. He also believes that by slowing down, caring for ourselves more fully, and listening more carefully, we can not only be spiritually nurtured but also serve as instruments of renewal. Finding the "still point," for Harper, means finding that sacred place within ourselves from which we are able to observe and release the tensions that bring stress into our lives. And from that point, believes Harper, we can develop authentic compassion for others.
Amazon
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GirlTalk, GodTalk: Why Faith Matters to Teenage Girls—and Their Parents
Joyce Ann Mercer, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2008.
Joyce Ann Mercer explores how adolescent girls understand and live their faith while navigating relationships with parents, discovering their own identities, and grappling with gender issues. Mercer interviewed girls from twelve denominations and found them to be persons "who were concerned about cultivating relationships of care, mutuality, and compassion, who were struggling to live with integrity or coherence between their emerging beliefs and their actions, who were searching for and honoring a sense of purpose or vocation, and who were striving to live justly in a morally complex world." Here is a book for readers seeking to appreciate the spiritual lives of teenage girls with whom they work or live.
Amazon
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Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
Clay Shirky, Author. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2008.
"The centrality of group effort to human life means that anything that changes the way groups function will have profound ramifications for everything from commerce and government to media and religion." With this premise, Clay Shirky has written a book that explains how the latest interactive technologies are revolutionizing group formation and empowering group participants to share information, collaborate with each other, and take collective action. Shirky—a professor at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program—illustrates his points with numerous stories from public life, politics, and business. Religious leaders will find this tour of social technology exhilarating and challenging as they consider its applications to congregations.
Amazon
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In Dying We Are Born: The Challenge and the Hope for Congregations
Peter Bush, Author. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2007.
Peter Bush identifies two types of dying congregations: those that need to close their doors, and those that need to change their culture and ways of doing ministry by relinquishing their understandings of the purpose of the congregation. After examining models of congregational renewal (which often mistakenly imply that "for every problem there is a solution"), Bush shows readers why churches must confront their mortality. He explores spiritual practices and the habits of wonder, remembering, and risk taking for congregations that know they are dying—or need to die. Only by dying, Bush says, will a congregation find resurrection life, given by God who raises the dead to life.
Amazon
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Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win
Michael Useem, Author. New York, NY: Random House, 2003.
Michael Useem, director of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management, uses compelling narratives to illustrate his lessons on the importance and processes of "leading up." Central among these lessons is the necessity of communication—a necessity tragically portrayed in the story of the 1996 trek to the peak of Mount Everest, during which eight people died because some climbers failed to raise questions that might have saved lives. Many other stories—from business, politics, and the Bible—are also offered and peppered with Useem's short "Lessons in Leading Up." All of the lessons, along with strategies for those who lead upward, are summarized in the final chapter.
Amazon
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Open Space Technology: A User's Guide, Third Edition
Harrison Owen, Author. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2008.
Open Space Technology: A User's Guide enables leaders to facilitate Open Space Technology (OST)—an effective strategy for organizing meetings of between 5 and 2,000 participants. OST especially helps leaders to develop self-organizing groups that must deal with complex issues in a short time frame. Harrison Owen discusses the situations for which Open Space would (and would not) be appropriate. He then explores such practical topics as site preparation, facility management, supplies, logistics, invitations, action planning, and more. This third edition includes a survey of the current status of Open Space Technology world wide, an update on the best technology for report writing, and a set of resources.
Amazon
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People of the Book: A Novel
Geraldine Brooks, Author. New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 2008.
This novel begins in 1996 when the United Nations commissions Hanna Heath—an Australian expert on rare books—to analyze, conserve, and restore a 15th century Spanish Haggadah that has recently escaped destruction in Sarajevo. Small artifacts in the binding of this ancient Hebrew treasure (an insect-wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, and a white hair) offer clues to its rich and troubled history. Chapters devoted to the stories behind each of these clues are interspersed with chapters revealing Hanna's personal and professional reflections. As we travel backwards from WWII Bosnia to 1480 Seville, we marvel at how the Haggadah survives and condemns the "Inquisition, Nazis, and extremist Serb nationalists."
Amazon
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Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment
J. Brent Bill, Author. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2008.
Brent Bill suggests that a sacred compass points us to "our spiritual true north —the mind and love of God." In so doing, it enables us to discern our callings and respond faithfully. The process of discernment involves listening for God's call by paying attention to our lives, by "letting our lives speak." Our lives, says Bill, speak through our bodies, stories, imagination, opportunities, dreams, and more. But to know that a calling is of God, there are qualities it needs to manifest—such as beauty, persistence, calmness, and clarity. This book offers profound wisdom and practical resources for individuals and groups seeking "true north" on their sacred compasses.
Amazon
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Water for Elephants: A Novel
Sara Gruen, Author. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2006.
"I'm ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." So begins Jacob Jankowski, as he sits in a nursing home and looks back on his career with the Benzini Brothers' Most Spectacular Show on Earth. The career (which began during the Depression when his parents' deaths in a car crash left him without money to finish veterinary school) takes him into the world of circus animals—including the beloved elephant, Rosie. It also leads him to fall in love with Marlena, who is married to the cruel circus boss, August. Illustrated with historical photographs of circuses, this novel reveals the strong but complex bonds that develop between Jacob, Marlena, and Rosie.
Amazon
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Web-Empower Your Church: Unleashing the Power of Internet Ministry
Mark M. Stephenson, Author. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006.
Reminding readers that Internet ministry is a "God thing," Mark Stephenson lays out the tools needed to create, maintain, and update a dynamic congregational website. Stephenson draws on his experience as the "Church Cyber Guy" at Ginghamsburg Church and his expertise as the leader of Web Empowered Church to explain what works and what doesn't when engaging in cyber ministry. A key piece of advice: "start by building a team that can carry out the many diverse tasks that such a ministry entails." This book, with an accompanying CD-ROM, will support any church seeking to develop a website that empowers all who preach, teach, pray, and serve in a congregation.
Amazon
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Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within
Patrice Vecchione, Author. New York, NY: Contemporary Books, 2001.
Poet and writing instructor Patrice Vecchione approaches writing as a spiritual practice. In the writing process, one discovers his or her "own deep self," and learns to express that self through story. A gentle spirit infuses the book, offering encouragement and reminding even the most-seasoned writers of the delight found in sharing deep ideas in new ways. Easy writing exercises and pauses for reflection help the writer discover and experience life-giving creativity, find the sacred in ordinary life, and build confidence to trust one's own voice and story. This is a delightful book, as refreshing as a plunge in a cool pool on a hot day.
Amazon
Writing and the Spiritual Life was recommended and reviewed for the Summer 2008 list by Anne Van Dusen, Senior Resource Associate with the Alban Institute until her death in June of 2008. We lovingly dedicate this set of seasonal recommendations to Anne's memory.
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