Kategoria BISAC: Religion >> Christian Ministry - Pastoral Resources

Filling a need not previously addressed, African American Church Growth contends that it is the prophetic consciousness which appeals to many blacks of the post-civil rights era, and that emphasis on the prophetic will help bring the black church out of the disillusionment of a "post-civil rights malaise."

Carlyle Fielding Stewart defines prophetic ministry as a concern for wholeness of the individual and community. Going beyond a simple call for social justice, the author addresses both spiritual and social tyrannies, within and without the church, that preclude church...

Like most community leaders, clergy are constantly asked to make decisions that have far-reaching effects. For clergy, the matter is particularly complicated because of the many arenas in which they operate--counseling, church management, community affairs, ecumenical relationships, denominational politics, and others.

In Pastoral Ethics, Gaylord Noyce looks at clergy as professionals, and shows what can be learned from the professional ethics of other disciplines. He also demonstrates the special responsibilities (and opportunities) that affect those who are ordained. A...

This comprehensive problem-solving reference for pastors provides theological foundations and experience-tested techniques for effective clergy leadership.

Robert D. Dale offers insight into the dynamics of clergy management by placing leadership into a congregational context and stressing servanthood as the primary biblical leadership image. Following a discussion of the three critical dimensions of organizational effectiveness, Dale explores and critiques the four basic leadership styles: catalyst, commander, encourager, and hermit. Out of this background exploration, Dale...

Before long, many of our Christian congregations will be perceived as sentimental creatures who are studied primarily as skeletons in the halls of museums. The church is in danger of becoming a dinosaur, according to church consultant William Easum. We live in a secular or unchurched world, but the church continues to develop ministries as if the church were in charge of a churched society. Dancing with Dinosaurs will help pastors and church leaders to plant culturally relevant congregations, explore first-century Christian communities as the primary model for viable congregations,...

An introduction to pastoral care for pastors of small membership churches.
"If you spend your whole life serving small membership churches and doing it well, yours will have been a life well spent." Small membership churches have a real advantage when it comes to incorporating people into a fellowship where they are known and where their needs are met. These churches and their pastors have an opportunity for excellence in this area, and should make the most of it. Good pastoral care can be the key to effectiveness in all of the other ministries of the church.From getting acquainted with...

Ministry is enriched when its practitioners are involved in a serious process of peer reflection on their ministry. Case study, the method advocate here, is one significant way for such reflection to take place. Readers will learn techniques for writing case studies and how to use imagination ad analogy to provoke theological reflection.

In 1985, What They Don't Teach at Harvard Business School became a blockbuster bestseller because it offered proven-effective, "school of hard knocks" advice--not just classroom theories--to business people.

Now, What Ministers Can't Learn in Seminary does the same thing for beginning and experienced pastors and seminarians. In bright, optimistic, good-humored language, R. Robert Cueni takes us step-by-step through the predictable crises of early ministry. He discusses the realities of congregational life, the difference between normal tensions and critical...

Demonstrates how worship and pastoral care can be blended to sustain and enrich each other.

Using insights gained from pastoral care and pastoral psychology, William H. Willimon explores what happens to people when they become involved in Christian worship. True pastoral care, he shows, cannot take place apart from an active worshiping community of faith.

Worship as Pastoral Care sensitizes pastors to the many ways Christian worship and pastoral care methods can be blended to enrich and support one another. It encourages pastors to broaden their understanding of...

The book of Acts serves as our playbook for ministry as it prepares us for the active presence of God.

Studying the book of Arts takes us back to the future. It shows the church how to trust in the active presence of God and inspire people to move from being mere members to bold disciples. As members become disciples of faith, they experience the unstoppable power of disciplined growth and divine purpose in Christian living.

Have you ever felt a tug deep inside to serve other human beings with work that matters? Written for all Christians of any affiliation, this primer challenges readers to think seriously about the nature, role, and work of ordained ministry in the church.

This wise book will help you: recognize the importance of choices about theological education; understand the servant role of the ordained minister; identify the unique work and activities of the ordained minister; and clarify the types of ministers who are sought by various churches.

Helps small membership church pastors see the spiritual development of their church in ways that tie directly to their own spiritual formation, resulting in a spiritual maturity as evidenced by inclusiveness and hospitality.
The pressures of the church "doing business" often push pastors to the point that they neglect that which is central to all that they and the church are supposed to be doing - spiritual growth or leadership. Too few resources are specifically designed to address this subject from within the context of the small-membership church. This book will address both of these...

Only when pastors hear beyond the words, can they care-fully minister. Pastors listen all the time. Or do they? Listening is more than a developed skill; it is an awesome gift of hospitality offered to others. According to Dr. Emma Justes, hearing beyond the words signifies an intimate relationship characterized by humility, thoughtful availability, vulnerability, and mutuality. Listening requires focused attention and openness. To help the reader learn this essential skill, the author includes exercises at the end of each chapter to build needed competency for this healing ministry.

• Do you really want the mission to succeed?
• Are you prepared to live within clear boundaries?
• Are you ready to align yourself with a greater purpose?
• Do you have what it takes?

Winning on Purpose offers leaders a way to organize congregations for success by creating structures that enable church life and health. As a comprehensive and powerful application of the biblical call to mission, Winning on Purpose sets forth the Accountable Leadership strategy. This model of leadership brings together standards for mission,...

A comprehensive introduction to the particular challenges and opportunities of congregational ministry in urban settings.

Urban ministry has long been a part of seminary curricula, but a basic and definitive understanding of what students should know as they prepare for congregational ministry in the city has remained elusive. Too often it is assumed that the theological resources developed for ministry in other settings are adequate for urban ministry, but these resources fail to account for the unique challenges and opportunities of the urban setting. Ronald Peters clarifies the nature...

No one was more radically critical of the ministry and the inherited Church policy that surrounds it than Roland Allen (1868-1949), whose prophetic writings constantly challenge the whole mission of the Christian Church, and many of his most important essays are collected here along with contributions about him. After studying at Oxford, his clerical training was in Leeds. He went as a missionary to China for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), where he stayed for twenty years. His experience convinced him that missionary methods needed changing, and that St Paul had more to...

Starting with the heart of a leader and then exploring the heart of leadership and the heart of implementation, readers will gain knowledge of eight key disciplines based on Christ's leadership style.

Focusing on pastoral and lay leadership in the African-American church, this books deals with internal and external issues - such as the tendency towards bifurcated mentality and practices, and the social issue of race and affirmative action.

Today, there exists a provocative need for a model of ministry that functions as a mediating structure to provoke a Christian identity and a secular relevance. Many classical as well as modern models of ministry appear to stress either a Christian identity or secular relevance. However, both qualities are essential to a comprehensive and current model of ministry. In Sketching a Scheme, author Stuart Wilson presents a friendship model of ministry that is both traditionally faithful and worldly pertinent.

In a breakthrough book first published in 1991, the authors address the dynamics in churches that can ensnare people in legalism, guilt, and begrudging service, keeping them from the grace and joy of God's kingdom.Written for both those who feel abused and those who may be causing it, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse shows how people get hooked into abusive systems, the impact of controlling leadership on a congregation, and how the abused believer can find rest and recovery.

The minister's life is punctuated by unscheduled emergencies in the lives of church members or other acquaintances. Here is a resource to help deal with those occurrences seamlessly. Nelson's Minister's Manual offers fresh and creative resources to help busy pastors with ministry events each day brings. Includes:

• Communion services
• Baptism Messages
• Funeral Sermons
• Traditional Funeral Verses From The Bible
• Funeral Registration Form
• Graveside Service
• Wedding Sermons
...