Author: Tim Shapiro
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781566997447
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 184
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Book Description
Change isn't always easy or intuitive. How Your Congregation Learns introduces churches and leaders--both lay and ordained--to the process of the learning journey. By understanding learning dynamics and working to become a learning community, the congregation will be able to move more purposefully to achieve its goals. Congregations face many kinds of challenges. Some are mundane: the roof leaks; the parking lot needs repaving; the microphones don't work well. Some tests are transcendent: How should lives be honored? What is God calling the congregation to do and be? How can generosity be taught? Throughout life people face challenges for which they are not prepared--the death of a parent, a new job offer, making a decision about where to live. So it goes that congregational leaders face challenges that are just beyond the grasp of their abilities. This book addresses the just-beyond-the-grasp challenges and shows how real congregations can learn from them.
Author: Thomas R. Hawkins
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664256999
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180
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Book Description
Congregations today face an adaptive challenge of immense proportions. Many respond with classic signs of work avoidance: holding to past assumptions and blaming authority. Thomas Hawkins's new vision of church leadership can provide a way to break through these defensive routines. The Learning Congregation is a must read for all pastors and church leaders.
Author: Jane E. Vennard
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566994616
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 167
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Book Description
Pastors and others who want to develop their skills as teachers of prayer and spiritual practices will find in this book not only wisdom for themselves but easily accessible lesson plans, enabling them to share Vennard's insights with others while infusing the activities with their own spirit and creative ideas. Through this book, readers' hearts are made ready to explore the wonder of strengthening their relationship with God through prayer.
Author: Susan Beaumont
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566995612
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
For five years, Alban Institute senior consultant Susan Beaumont has been giving voice to the organizational and leadership demands of large congregations. Through her work, she has identified five basic leadership systems that need to stay in alignment for the large church to function well for its size: clergy leadership roles, staff team design and function, governance and board function, acculturation and the role of laity, and forming and executing strategy. She has also learned that these five systems operate with some important but subtle distinctions in what Beaumont calls the professional church (400-800 in worship attendance), the strategic church (800-1,200), and the matrix church (1,200-2,000). Often, she has discovered, problems in a large congregation are related to the fact that one or more of the five systems is inappropriately structured for the size of the congregation. In other words, the church isn't acting its size. Beaumont is invested in helping large congregations 'rightsize' their leadership systems to better serve their ministry context. This book articulates why size matters and how it matters in the world of large congregations. It is written for anyone who wants to better understand the leadership and organizational dynamics of the large church anyone seeking to understand the challenges of leading from inside the large congregation.
Author: Tim Shapiro
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1501842609
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
New faith communities are appearing across the U.S.. Many of them bear little resemblance—on the surface—to ‘church’ in its conventional form. But when we look a little deeper we see striking continuity with the most deeply rooted practices of the Christian faith in community. What are those practices? What do these unconventional, alternative faith communities look like? How are they, perhaps, indicators of a hopeful new future for the church? And what can we learn from them? Authors Kara Brinkerhoff and Tim Shapiro spent more than a year researching and exploring these questions, closely examining the life of a dozen alternative faith communities across the country. They include new monastic communities, food-oriented communities, affinity group communities, house churches, hybrid churches and others. They are creative, ingenious, innovative, clever, dynamic and transformative. But they represent human expressions of activities that have always been part of human religious congregations: hospitality, learning, storytelling, care, leadership, worship and honoring place. This fascinating book goes beyond simply analyzing current trends. It reveals how innovative Christians are engaging in time-honored practices, creating new types of communities, which will shape the church to come. Further, it shows us how we too might innovate while holding true to the essential practices of our gathered faith. This is an instructive picture of Christian community, past, present and future.
Author: Roger Heuser
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426711395
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 510
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Book Description
A complete and definitive guide to the practice of church leadership--newly revised
Author: Nancy Tatom Ammerman
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 9780813523354
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
Why do some religious institutions decline in the face of racial integration whilst others grow? How do congregations deal with economic distress? This study of congregations in the face of community transformation includes stories of over 20 congregations in nine communities across America.
Author: Richard Robert Osmer
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664225476
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 372
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Book Description
In this important and groundbreaking book, Osmer develops a practical theology of the teaching ministry. He begins with the Apostle Paul, identifying in Paul's letters to his congregations the core tasks of the teaching ministry.
Author: Maria Harris
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664240523
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
"A beautiful, insightful, and creative work that could be fashioned only by a true artist in the art of religious education".---Thomas H. Groome, Associate Professor of Theology nad Religious Education, Boston College
Author: Isa Aron
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1580237371
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
How can my congregation transform itself? How can we re-dedicate ourselves to learning? Improving spiritual connection in our communities takes work! Combining expert advice and experience garnered from congregations throughout North America, Becoming a Congregation of Learners shows us how transformative change is possible. A complete resource full of ideas, information and support, this is a guide for those of us involved in, or interested in, energizing our spiritual communities. Isa Aron, director of Hebrew Union College's Experiment in Congregational Education (ECE), offers concrete, practical information on how to bring about change and revitalization, and helps us make learning a vibrant, integral part of congregational life.
