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Norma Cook Everist contends that it is meaningful to say that in ministries of administration, outreach, and pastoral care, the church is functioning as a learning community. Whenever and wherever Christians are being formed into the image of Jesus Christ through ministry, there Christian education is taking place. Christian education is the name we give to that process of formation. Building on this central insight, Everist has written a major new introduction to the tasks and practices of Christian education. Part 1 of the book focuses broadly on what it means to be the church in the world. Part 2 shows how being a learning community requires ongoing growth in faith throughout the span of life. Part 3 shifts focus to the church as it moves into the community and world.
YOUR CHURCH, MINISTRY, OR ORGANIZATION CAN BECOME A FORCE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE. LEARN HOW AND START NOW! Pastors, other leaders, and people in every community yearn to bring change. To influence people and systems for good. To work for morally rooted social change. What is the best way to do this work? Together. Collaborative efforts between churches, schools, and other organizations are critically important for our future. Lia McIntosh makes the case for this claim and instructs leaders who are ready to start, as she lays out a principle-based framework built on the seven virtues (or principles) of Kwanzaa. Each chapter includes a summary of key points, plus a list of questions and suggestions for discussion, further inquiry, or action. The book closes with a full list of practical suggestions and instructions for putting the principles into action immediately. It is designed for leaders and teams to read and work through together, resulting in plans and action. The book is also filled with stories revealing the depth of need and the extraordinary results of positive change. It is inspiring, motivating, and instructive. Church/School/Community promises to help us move forward: - A historical review of the intersections of Faith and education, reminding us how the church has always been on the forefront of education. - An explanation of the Opportunity we have to change a student’s life, especially before the 3rd grade. - A challenge to Rethink the church’s role in education, moving from mercy to justice to advocacy. - Exploring the question, What can we do? And learning the practices that are essential for this work. - A challenge for faith communities to practice Advocacy, placing students at the center, and reviving the church. - A warning for us to Resist the urge to turn inward, reminding us that life is found by giving ourselves away. - Renewing our commitment as Americans to Democracy. Modeling it for students so they understand the power of their voices, their capacity to develop skills, and their responsibility to shape the future. Actionable and transformational. This book is a valuable tool for people and organizations who want to create an “ubuntu” way of looking at the world. Through healthy community, school and church partnerships, McIntosh offers a practical guide for leaders to discern the community’s assets and needs and bring good into the world. A must-have resource. --Kim Jenne, director of connectional ministries, Missouri Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church We are at our best when we partner with others for the sake of self, neighbor and community. We should have no expectation of meaningful change or transformation apart from profound partnering. McIntosh rehearses and re-envisions the power of church, school and community linking arms, where each helps the other become a better version of itself, and where the whole is more than the sum of the parts. --Gregory V. Palmer, bishop of the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church This is a book worth reading! The Missouri Annual Conference has emphasized church/school partnerships and this book is a helpful, practical guide to our work. It paints a picture of fruitful and vital ministry. --Bob Farr, bishop of the Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church Lia McIntosh shows up as a coach, encourager and cultural connector in every moment of her life, including this book. Churches are looking to create significant partnerships with their local communities, and schools are frequent partners. This book provides a framework for thinking through these connections, plus action steps to take. I'll be recommending this wonderful piece to every church leader I know! --Derrek Belase, director of connectional ministry, Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church Concepts and words are often misleading specially in a period when individualism is on the rise, and an abiding sense of togetherness is slipping away from the human family, Rev. Lia McIntosh calls 21st century readers to rethink about the centrality of community and formation of human connections through church, Academic circles and Ecclesial movements. This is a timely and much needed people – oriented piece of literature whose horizon is three –fold, faith – as – a portal for community formation, learning and instruction as an opportunity for community formation, and national and Global engagements as localities of community formation. This book is both a gift and legacy giving to all whose eyes will read the pages of this well – thought out work. --Israel Kamudzandu, associate professor and Lindsey Pherigo Chair, Saint Paul School of Theology, Leawood, KS Church/School/Community is a timely and much-needed resource. It is a must read for those who are committed to being World Changers in this heightened state of racial injustice, political division, and denominational uncertainty. McIntosh creatively utilizes the Kwanzaa principles as a plan and blueprint to strengthen churches and transform communities. As the National Director of SBC21 I highly recommend reading this critical book that can forge vital partnerships between church, school and community. --Michael L. Bowie, Jr., national executive director, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, The United Methodist Church
The Bible is clear about God’s love for the city, be it Babylon,Nineveh, or Jerusalem. Thousands of years later, His lovehasn’t changed—and God still calls His people to speak truth to the cities of the world. In City Changers, Alan Platt shows how we need to be in the classrooms, boardrooms, and marketplaces of our communities, engaged with society and ready to offer hope to the broken. Alan gives practical answers and inspiration for influencing the spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions of where we live, as he tells his remarkable story of watching God’s church deeply affect cities around the world. Generations of changed lives tell us that Christianity can radically transform society, beginning with spiritual transformation in the lives of individual people. As Alan writes, the church is called as a missional presence to instill the character and presence of Christ into the core of the community.
This book was written to help congregational leaders, clergy, staff, and laypersons, plan and organize a Christian education ministry from the approach of Christian formation in a community of faith context. This book provides a model for organizing the Christian education leadership committee or team of the church, demonstrates how to use the church year as a framework for planning the Christian education ministry of the church, and gives a model for assessing the effectiveness of the educational ministry of the church and a process to help congregations move toward the Christian Education Formation approach.
In our rapidly evolving religious scene, congregations that are open to continuous learning and willing to respond to external and internal change, will be the ones that achieve new vitality and health. Dennis Campbell describes what those congregations will look like and provides four tools to help a congregation shape its community into what God would have it be. Systems thinking, congregational culture, appreciative inquiry, and scenario planning are explained and illustrated, and readers will be shown how to apply the principles to their setting.
Drawing on insights from the training practices of the English medieval craft guilds, a global survey of 500 church planters, interviews with artists and church planting trainers and the authors’ 30 years of ministry experience, 'The Craft of Church Planting' offers a distinctive and imaginative perspective on the methods used to train future practitioners in the art of church planting. Demonstrating how training for the next generation of church planting leaders might be informed by the historic master-apprentice model, guild learning communities, creativity and an artisan approach to ministry, this book is a vital resource to inform the methods of training for the next generation of church planters.
Receptive Ecumenism asks not what other churches can learn from us, but 'what can we learn and receive with integrity from our ecclesial others?' Since the publication of Receptive Ecumenism and the Call to Catholic Learning: Exploring a Way for Contemporary Ecumenism (OUP, 2008), this fresh ecumenical strategy has been adopted, critiqued, and developed in different Christian traditions, and in local, national, and international settings, including the most recent bilateral dialogue of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III). The thirty-eight chapters in this new volume, by academics, church leaders, and ecumenical practitioners who have adopted and adapted Receptive Ecumenism in various ecclesial and cultural contexts, show how Receptive Ecumenism has grown and matured. Part One demonstrates how Receptive Ecumenism itself is capable of being received with integrity into very different ecclesiologies and ecclesial traditions. In Part Two, this approach to transformative ecumenical learning is applied to some recurrent ecclesial problems, such as the understanding and practice of ministry, revealing new insights and practical opportunities. Part Three examines the potential and challenges for Receptive Ecumenism in different international settings. Part Four draws on scripture, hermeneutics, and pneumatology to offer critical reflection on how Receptive Ecumenism itself implements transformative ecclesial learning. Addressing the 70th Anniversary of the World Council of Churches, Archbishop Justin Welby, said that 'One of the most important of recent ecumenical developments has been the concept of Receptive Ecumenism'. This volume provides an indispensable point of reference for understanding and applying that concept in the life of the Christian churches today.