You probably have a fairly good idea of what it took to construct the building in which your congregation meets. First, there was a recognized need for a building, followed by a budget, blueprints, fund-raising, construction workers, and building materials, and voil! The structure proudly stands as a monument to the effective implementation of a well-thought-out plan.
How do you lead an organization stuck between an ending and a new beginning—when the old way of doing things no longer works but a way forward is not yet clear? Beaumont calls such in-between times liminal seasons—threshold times when the continuity of tradition disintegrates and uncertainty about the future fuels doubt and chaos. In a liminal season it simply is not helpful to pretend we understand what needs to happen next. But leaders can still lead. How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going is a practical book of hope for tired and weary leaders who risk defining this era of ministry in terms of failure or loss. It helps leaders stand firm in a disoriented state, learning from their mistakes and leading despite the confusion. Packed with rich stories and real-world examples, Beaumont guides the reader through practices that connect the soul of the leader with the soul of the institution.
How does a theologically substantive ministry come into being? And how does a theological orientation to the vocation make a difference in pastoral practice? The Power to Comprehend with All the Saints brings pastor-theologians together to answer these and other key questions about the integrity of their vocation. These pastoral voices speak wisdom that will enrich both the academy and the church.
Contributions by Allan Amanik, Kelly B. Arehart, Sue Fawn Chung, Kami Fletcher, Rosina Hassoun, James S. Pula, Jeffrey E. Smith, and Martina Will de Chaparro Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed explores the tendency among most Americans to separate their dead along communal lines rooted in race, faith, ethnicity, or social standing and asks what a deeper exploration of that phenomenon can tell us about American history more broadly. Comparative in scope, and regionally diverse, chapters look to immigrants, communities of color, the colonized, the enslaved, rich and poor, and religious minorities as they buried kith and kin in locales spanning the Northeast to the Spanish American Southwest. Whether African Americans, Muslim or Christian Arabs, Indians, mestizos, Chinese, Jews, Poles, Catholics, Protestants, or various whites of European descent, one thing that united these Americans was a drive to keep their dead apart. At times, they did so for internal preference. At others, it was a function of external prejudice. Invisible and institutional borders built around and into ethnic cemeteries also tell a powerful story of the ways in which Americans have negotiated race, culture, class, national origin, and religious difference in the United States during its formative centuries.
In early 1963, twenty-eight white Methodist ministers caused a firestorm of controversy by publishing a statement of support for race relations change. Born of Conviction explores the statement's resulting influences on their lives, their reasons for signing the statement, and the various interpretations and legacies of the document.
Update of Bishop Sharma Lewis' best-selling Lenten study. Dates have been updated to correspond to each day during Lent, with a devotional for individual or group study.Thousands of individuals and hundreds of churches used Journey to Transformation as their guide during Lent 2020. Sharing her individual journey, Bishop Sharma Lewis (Virginia Conference, United Methodist Church) invites readers to observe Lent by introspection, repentance, forgiveness, renewal, prayer, fasting, and Biblical Study. A Journey to Transformation is divided into four sections: Lenten Devotional, Prayer, Reflection, and My Action. Since Lent is a time for self-examination and renewal, Bishop Lewis offers a "My Action" section each day to allow readers to continue to put into practice what they have read and reflected upon, and as an opportunity to transform someone's life.Since Sundays are not counted during the Lenten Season, this study will allow individuals and groups to further engage in introspection. On Sundays, "My Personal Reflections Notes" will ask you to reflect and journal on the past week's study with the following questions: (a) What day stood out during this Lenten journey? (b) What did you learn about yourself and your relationship with Jesus Christ? and (c) under the heading of My Action - What day brought you great joy or difficulty? Why? Finally, readers are invited to journal their own thoughts in spaces provided.
