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Summer 2009: 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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Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work (Book)
Marilee G. Adams, Author. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009.
"Real change always begins with a change in thinking—and most specifically in the questions we ask ourselves." Marilee Adams posits that while many people frantically seek the right answers to their problems, the best approach to any problem is first formulating better questions. Using a conversational form to present her ideas, Adams articulates the key concepts informing "Question Thinking." This book explains how Question Thinking can facilitate open-minded collaboration and discovery. It also examines how Question Thinking applies in other approaches to growth and change, such as Appreciative Inquiry. Congregational committees who find themselves stuck in fixed approaches to doing things will want to read, and use, this book.
Amazon
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Conversations with American Writers: The Doubt, the Faith, the In-Between
Dale Brown, Author. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 2008.
Dale Brown—formerly an English professor and currently the director of the Buechner Institute at King College—has collected interviews with ten American writers who offer their reflections on writing, church, contemporary culture, and God. Such authors as David James Duncan (The Brothers K), Ernest Gaines (A Lesson Before Dying), Philip Gulley (If God Is Love), Ron Hansen (Mariette in Ecstasy), and Sheri Reynolds (The Rapture of Canaan) are featured here. Brown observes that "Contemporary writers are no less preachers than their kindred in previous epochs. The freight may be different, but it is still freight. And it is worth our lives, perhaps, to discover just what the crates contain."
Amazon
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Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership
Dan Hotchkiss, Author. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2009.
Can a democratic congregation and an effective governing board operate in partnership with a strong, permission-giving ministry-team structure?" After answering this question with a firm "yes," consultant Dan Hotchkiss explains the importance of unified structures for making both governance and ministry decisions, as well as clear boundaries between governance and ministry. This book fully articulates the job of the board and offers valuable advice on how to make board meetings productive. It discusses relationships between clergy and laity, delegating power and authority, conducting evaluations, exploring change, and facing problems. Appendices offer tools for helping boards assess how they use their meeting time and enabling boards to construct useful policy outlines.
Amazon
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In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
Michael Pollan, Author. New York, NY: Penguin, 2009.
Think about what you ate yesterday, or have eaten today. Would your great-great grandmother have recognized it as "food"? If not, says Michal Pollan, don't eat it again. Pollan notes that our daily food intake now averages 300 calories more than in 1985—primarily because of additional sugar and fat in "convenience" products. And this fact may be related to the fact that the annual cost of treating diet-related illness in the United States has reached $250 billion. An advocate in the "real food" movement, the author advises us to avoid the center aisles in supermarkets and stick to the perishables. Bottom line: "Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Amazon
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Lift: Becoming a Positive Force in Any Situation
Ryan W. Quinn, Robert E. Quinn, Authors. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009.
Consultants Robert Quinn and his son, Ryan Quinn, explain the four principles of "lift" and how to implement these principles in daily life. The four principles include being purpose-centered (devoted to intended results); internally-directed (knowing and living by our values); other-focused (attending to the feelings and needs of others); and externally-open (willing to consider various strategies and learn from feedback). The authors devote two chapters to each principle, with the first chapter discussing what happens when the principle is not implemented and the second discussing both how the principle can be implemented and the likely outcomes. Concluding each discussion are suggestions for practicing the principle in our lives.
Amazon
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The Middle Place
Kelly Corrigan, Author. New York, NY: Hyperion, 2008.
The "middle place," for Kelly Corrigan, is that "sliver of time when childhood and parenthood overlap"—a time "hallmarked by endless, irresistible, often exasperating comparisons between your family of origin and the family you've made." Kelly structures this tender memoir by alternating chapters between one family and the other, between the past and the present. The stories narrated here especially bear witness to the bond between Kelly and her father, George—a devout Catholic, all-star Lacrosse player, and "true Corrigan" from working-class Baltimore. This bond grows even stronger when Kelly and George offer love, support, and humor to one another as each of them struggles with cancer.
Amazon
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The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World
Ronald A. Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, Marty Linsky, Authors. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2009.
Readers familiar with Leadership Without Easy Answers and Leadership on the Line realize the importance of adaptive (and not merely technical) approaches to organizational change. This book builds on the authors' earlier work by providing both further understanding of adaptive leadership and practices for putting such leadership to work. Beginning with a theoretical overview of adaptive leadership (especially helpful for those new to this concept), the book then explores diagnosing existing systems, mobilizing systems for change, seeing oneself as a system, and "deploying" oneself. And because a shared language is important for leading adaptive change, the authors also provide a glossary of key terms.
Amazon
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Prayers for a Privileged People
Walter Brueggemann, Author. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2008.
Recognizing his own status as a person of privilege, Walter Brueggemann offers poetic prayers that engage issues of "privilege and entitlement, injustice and violence." They are grouped into six sections which "begin in self-awareness and end in glad yielding to the goodness of God." The first section, "Opening Our Hearts," expresses our dependence on God's grace. The second, "Well-Arranged Lives," addresses social and economic inequalities. The third, "The World Is Not Safe," explores threats to our sense of order and continuity. These sections are followed by prayers for those without resources ("Brick Production"), prayers for new life ("Can We Risk It?"), and prayers that give voice to "Choirs of Hope."
Amazon
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ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church
Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch, Authors. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2009.
Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch challenge Christian readers to once again make the Jesus of the Gospels central to their religious identity and mission. "The core task of this book will be to explore the connection between the way of Jesus and the religion of Christianity." They hold that when Jesus is removed from Christianity, what is left is empty "religion": "a set of inherited rituals, rules, and structures devoid of a vital spirituality." With portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Mother Teresa, and others who have truly sought to follow the way of Jesus, this book is a call to committed and life-giving discipleship.
Amazon
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Saints in Limbo: A Novel
River Jordan, Author. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press, 2009.
Velma True, a widow living in Echo, Florida, is too agoraphobic to travel as far as her own mailbox. She is surprised when a man appears on her doorstep—a "storyteller" who seems to have emerged from a whirlwind. He calls her name, visits her in her kitchen, and gives her a birthday gift: a rock that represents her "last good wish." This rock transports her to earlier times when her husband Joe was still alive and their son Rudy was young and innocent. The experiences that Velma—and we—encounter in this novel offer glimpses of the courage it takes to overcome regret and live once again in hope.
Amazon
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Staying with Conflict: A Strategic Approach to Ongoing Disputes
Bernard Mayer, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009.
While books on conflict often focus on quick resolutions, some disputes are inevitably long-term. Mediator Bernard Mayer asserts that when enduring conflicts arise, the key question is "How can we help people prepare to engage with this issue over time?" Focusing on constructive engagement, this book asks disputants to "accept the conflicts in their lives with courage, optimism, realism, and determination." Mayer discusses the nature, challenges, and opportunities of enduring conflict; engaging constructively over time; dealing with conflict avoidance; and framing a conflict narrative. Later chapters address communication patterns, power and escalation issues, the place of negotiation and agreements, and long-term support systems.
Amazon
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Synagogues in a Time of Change: Fragmentation and Diversity in Jewish Religious Movements
Zachary I. Heller, Editor. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2009.
Zachary Heller—a congregational rabbi before joining the National Center for Jewish Policy Studies as associate director—has edited an essay collection that addresses the history, present challenges, and future prospects of synagogue life in American Judaism. Six sections structure this collection: the history and context of Jewish life in America; the fragmentation and diversity in Jewish movements and denominations; prescriptions for synagogue renewal, Jewish education, and rabbinic training; reflections and stories on contemporary trends in American Judaism; and a discussion of "independents" and the "transitional generation." Contributors include rabbis, scholars, denominational executives, and community activists. A glossary of Hebrew terms rounds out this work.
Amazon
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