This highly readable and practical book is intended to help church education leaders address the following questions: Does your church know how Christian faith is formed? Does your church have an intentional process for developing an effective Christian education ministry? How do you determine what contributes to and what impedes effective Christian formation in your congregation? What information theology guides your church’s education practice? Do you know the difference between program-centered approaches and a community-of-faith approach to Christian education?
Co-writers Galindo, a seminary professor, and Canady, a Methodist church minister of discipleship, have provided a model for churches to use in organizing a Christian education leadership committee or team; demonstrate how to use the church year as a framework for planning a Christian education ministry; and give guidance for assessing the effectiveness of a church’s educational ministry. The book also provides a process to help congregations move toward the Christian education Formation approach.
Part II of the book reminds the reader of A Church Organized and Functioning, by W.L. Howse and W.O. Thomason (Nashville: Convention Press, 1963) and Charles Tidwell’s Working Together Through the Church Council (Nashville: Convention Press, 1968). While the “names and organizations” have changed, the focus is still the same: planning and implementing a holistic Christian education program.
The Soul of Adolescence: In Their Own Words. Patricia Lyons. New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-8192-2375-3.
By taking the time to listen and learn from the teenage community, Lyons gives voices to their hopes and dreams, fears and frustrations. A chaplain and high school teacher who is immersed in the lives of youth, Lyons offers a searing first-person account of adolescent ethics, spirituality, conscience, and struggles with despair which is vivid and unforgettable. She deciphers the language of youth so that any teacher, parent, or mentor can learn how to hear, understand and respond more effectively to the spiritual hopes and longings of teenagers.
A worthy read. Ministers of youth, youth teachers and parents will have their world view changed though this emerging literature on the spiritual lives of teens.
Making Shifts Without Making Waves. A Coach Approach to Soulful Leadership. Edward H. Hammett and James R. Pierce with Stephen Devane. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8272-2337-0.
A fresh approach with practical concepts and models intended to transform the way we do relationships in life and ministry—and business. The book looks at a “coach approach” to leading with an outline of the authors’ theology of transformation and change.
The three sections of the book focus on the Impact, Implications, and Sustaining Soulful Leadership.
The “Seven Key Coaching Questions” will assist leaders who want to make shifts without making waves. The questions will assist in building clarity, focus, and ownership.
The book is a part of the Columbia Partnership Leadership Series.
Written by:
William E. (Bill) Young, past president and Board member of BACE. He is a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church, Nashville, TN.