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Winter 2006: Reading Recommendations
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"What shall I read?"
Wondering what books would most inspire and inform you—and other congregational leaders—as you enter the coming year? Congregational Resource Guide staff offer you our "top pics" of the season. (Click on the book's title to access the publisher's Web site 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 the best of the season and peace in the new year.
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Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What
Peter Steinke, Author. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2006.
Many factors can fuel anxiety in a congregation: size transitions, staff conflicts, building construction, money issues, and more. But as consultant and Lutheran pastor Peter Steinke notes, "how anxiety is addressed will determine outcome more than anything." Drawing on family systems theory, Steinke helps leaders respond with maturity to anxious situations. He discusses the leader's presence (and its potential to calm people's reactive behavior), the leader's functioning (and its potential to offer clarity while addressing conflicts and boundaries), and the leader's challenges (and their potential to drain energy). Each chapter features stories and "notebook" observations that will assist congregational leaders seeking to serve in life-giving ways during anxious times.
Amazon
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The Consolations of God: Great Sermons of Phillips Brooks
Ellen Wilbur, Editor. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 2003.
Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) was Boston's celebrity preacher and rector of Trinity Church for more than 30 years. His appeal was based on his ability to connect individuals with their experience and then with God. Editor Ellen Wilbur describes her reaction to first reading Brooks' sermons: "I wasn't prepared for the timeless voice that seemed electrically alive and present, the passion with which it spoke, or the power of its teachings. It was a ringing voice that shook my spirit to attention." Speaking to issues that still resonate, this collection of sermons will inspire all those seeking to shake their listeners' spirits to attention.
Amazon
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Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture
Michael Frost, Author. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.
Michael Frost offers a vision of Christian life in the wake of a world no longer shaped by the values and stories that defined the Christendom era. As exiles from both this earlier era and the new world of postmodern secularism, we are challenged to take seriously the radical character and witness of Jesus. Doing so, says Frost, will involve embracing various kinds of danger—including dangerous acknowledgement, dangerous criticism, and dangerous promises. In particular, we are challenged to follow Jesus by critiquing entrenched power and affirming the kingdom of God. To illustrate his points, Frost provides stories and examples from everyday life and the public arena.
Amazon
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The Grace of It All: Reflections on the Art of Ministry
F. Dean Lueking, Author. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2006.
Dean Lueking offers personal and theological reflections on the vocation of pastoral ministry. Speaking from 50 years of experience (44 of them as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Illinois), Lueking reminds clergy of key virtues at the heart of pastoral life: accountability, authority, "creative fidelity," ethics, honesty, integrity, patience, and excellence. He also explores the qualities that ensure sound relationships between pastor and parish: friendship, humor, collegiality, availability, discernment, hospitality, and dignity. Throughout, his advice is peppered with lively stories that express both personal struggles and God's grace in the lives of faithful people. Ministers of all denominations will enjoy musing on Lueking's wisdom.
Not yet available through Amazon.
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Growing the African American Church
Carlyle F. Stewart, Author. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006.
Scholar, preacher, and teacher Carlyle Fielding Stewart III has assembled the wisdom of ten African American pastors from across the U.S. who have grown their congregations in a variety of circumstances and conditions. Leaders of megachurches, mid-sized churches, and small congregations, all of these contributors have achieved spiritual and numerical growth in their congregations. And their communities have benefited as these churches have become more effective agents of change. This book—addressing evangelism, preaching and worship, outreach, spiritual formation, and stewardship—would be helpful to anyone seeking to grow and sustain a congregation, as well as anyone interested in the intersections between culture, spirituality, evangelism, and church growth.
Amazon
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In the Midst of Chaos: Caring for Children as Spiritual Practice
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2006.
It may seem incongruous to pair "spiritual practice" with "caring for children." While the former phrase suggests order, quiet, and focused attention, the latter suggests messiness, noise, and constant interruption. Where and how is spiritual depth to be found "in the midst of chaos"? Theologian and mother Bonnie Miller-McLemore addresses this question by asking readers to begin thinking of parenting as an invitation to discover God in life's ordinary, mundane, and even exasperating experiences. The author encourages parents to seek the sacred in such practices as reading bedtime stories, sharing chores, and playing games. Here are tools for living faithfully amid life's distractions, rather than in spite of them.
Amazon
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Lord, Have Mercy: Praying for Justice with Conviction and Humility
Claire E. Wolfteich, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.
While many books have been published on prayer, and many on social action and justice, fewer books tie the two together. In Lord, Have Mercy Claire Wolfteich examines the ways that faith communities pray about issues of justice and peace. This book holds that prayer is a public practice that attends to human suffering and seeks to fulfill the Gospel in complex circumstances. It examines several arenas in which prayer has been central to the struggle for justice—such as South Africa under apartheid and the farm worker movement. Lord, Have Mercy invites us to engage the world in our prayer lives and to bring prayer to our public lives.
Amazon
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Overcoming Life's Disappointments
Harold Kushner, Author. New York, NY: Knopf Publishing, 2006.
Drawing on the biblical stories of disappointments that Moses endured (a congregation of complainers, a family neglected, a Promised Land that he would never see), Harold Kushner (author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People) offers timeless advice for not only coping with life's setbacks, but responding in ways that promote resilience and prevent despair. Kushner discusses such difficult issues as illness, divorce, job loss, and other seemingly intractable dilemmas, offering advice from his own wellspring of personal and rabbinical experience. He knows how life can dish up enormous pain, and he knows first-hand our God-given capacities to respond in ways that ultimately make us stronger.
Amazon
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Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry
L. Gregory Jones, Kevin R. Armstrong, Authors. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 2006
Theology professor Gregory Jones and United Methodist pastor Kevin Armstrong examine such issues as power, office, call, professionalism, collegiality, ordination, pastoral imagination, and other topics related to ministerial excellence. Through the stories and testimonies they relate, they demonstrate that there is no "one-size-fits-all" form of excellence. Instead, the authors show that excellence emerges in the partnership between pastor and congregation. Ultimately, they believe, pastoring is about discipleship and faithfulness; while skill development and academic education have their place, at the heart of the pastoral vocation is "a life well lived, a life of creativity, intellectual engagement, and imagination, a life that asks the best of us."
Amazon
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Rethinking Synagogues: A New Vocabulary for Congregational Life
Lawrence A. Hoffman, Author. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006.
Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman examines the future of the American synagogue, suggesting that existing assumptions about Jewish communal life need rethinking if synagogues are to thrive. To assist readers in transforming their synagogues into centers of creativity, spirituality, and ethics, Hoffman contends that we need to change the way we talk about synagogue life. He proposes a set of concepts designed to facilitate conversation among synagogue leaders. These concepts encourage leaders to shift their focus from program to ideas, from pragmatics to theology, from regulations to foundational rules, and from additive change to transformative change. Included is advice on using story, crafting vision, honoring Jewish culture, and creating sacred community.
Amazon
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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
Lisa See, Author. New York, NY: Random House, 2005.
An astrologer matches seven-year-old Lily with her "laotong," Snow Flower, for life. Lily’s feet—if foot binding is successful—will insure a new life for her and her family, full of wealth and social status. Snow Flower introduces herself with the gift of a fan, painted in nu shu, a secret language understood only by women. As the two discover how to be friends in the midst of being women, wives, and mothers, the fan records their innermost thoughts and experiences. Lisa See weaves a poignant story around historical depictions of nineteenth-century China, including the rituals of foot binding, arranged marriages, civil unrest, and death.
Amazon
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Thirst: Poems
Mary Oliver, Author. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2006.
This recent collection of poems from Mary Oliver explores her grief at the loss of her companion as well as her deepening faith in God. Oliver draws upon images of nature and the "stuff" of everyday life, as in this poem, "Praying":
It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Amazon
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