Some useful sites are:

Alban Weekly e-Newsletter (http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=40) – includes emerging trends and information about Alban’s latest books, upcoming learning events, and other resources. The Alban Institute was founded in 1974 as a major resource for American congregations facing the challenges of a changing society.  

Faith Communities Today (FACT - http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/) is an interfaith research report that provides key information on a range of subjects relating to congregational life in America – worship, conflict, leadership, growth, finances, technology, and much more.

Net Results (http://netresults.org) Net Results, published six times a year, is a newsletter that includes many short helpful articles by various regular contributors. It always has something helpful. There is a cost to subscribe, but then the subscriber is free to share articles with anyone within the organization/congregation.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (http://pewforum.org/) – The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, launched in 2001, seeks to promote a deeper understanding of issues at the intersection of religion and public affairs.

The Pew Forum conducts surveys, demographic analyses, and other social science research on important aspects of religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world. It also provides a neutral venue for discussions of timely issues through roundtables and briefings.
 

After some Bible study and some sharing, I had laid out strips of cloth with words or phrases about Trinity written on them (things I had heard people talk about over my first year with them). The people then took permanent markers and wrote feeling words on each strip. Someone asked, “Can we be honest?” When we were done, one person was heard to say, “It felt good to get it out.”

Most words were pretty innocuous, but, for instance, organ music generated “boring,” and praise music, “yuck.” Drums in worship: “Why?” And there were a few other controversial things that came out. Another interesting comment was, “It’s easier to state strong feelings about inanimate objects.”

We discussed the weaving at a congregational retreat in May and, during worship, had a liturgical piece where we laid aside those things that keep up from being community together.

“Fun to do—but lots of work” was the general feeling of those who worked on the hanging.

To see the hanging up close, visit Trinity at 2901 Western Ave. in Park Forest. It is located at the back parking lot entrance to the church. Worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. every Sunday. The folks at Trinity would love to have you join them.

Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations, by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann (Alban Institute, 2003)

If you’re a pastor or congregational leader involved in renewal, revitalization, or turnaround efforts, this is a must-have book. The authors give a great overview of what’s involved in doing serious congregational planning, and they work hard to fuse spiritual practices with helpful sociological insights. Because so much helpful information is brought together in one place, it might lead some readers to feel overwhelmed at the prospect of “doing it right.” But a better response would be a series of “Aha!” moments, where those involved in the process of congregational planning can notice both potential pit-falls as well as golden opportunities to do things more effectively.

Some of the chapters tend toward the more theoretical end of the spectrum, so it can be a little tricky at times trying to figure out how you can use the analysis in your own context. But since the authors are very generous with footnotes and with directing the reader to further resources, there’s often another trail that you can follow. For those who already have a sense of how to do congregational visioning and strategic planning, the richest section of the book might be the 80-page resource section at the end of the book. There’s a great collection of short articles that provide different lenses to see your church through. Lay leaders will find some of these extremely illuminating. There are also lots of practical exercises and handouts that would work very well in a meeting of congregational leaders.

Oddly enough, the main quibble I have with the material is that it leaves out some of the key features of what “strategy” really involves. The authors do refer to John Kotter’s research, which is good, but there is next to no discussion of Michael Porter’s ground-breaking research on the essence of strategy, the necessity of trade-offs, strategic “fit,” and the role of leaders in developing and sustaining a strategic plan. Readers would do well to download Porter’s article “What is Strategy” from the internet and combine it with the insights of Holy Conversations.

Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith, by Bill Hybels (Zondervan, 2006)

If you’re looking for a recent book on evangelism that accessible and inspirational, then you’d be hard pressed to do better than this one by Bill Hybels. This is Hybels at his best: conversational, enthusiastic, passionate, and practical. He tells several great first-person stories of his own attempts at evangelism, and, if you get the accompanying DVD (which I recommend), you’ll meet many of the people he talks about and hear things from their side as well.

Besides the inspiring and instructive stories, the book is arranged around three core elements: “Living in 3-D,” “The Power of Story,” and “Grander Vision Living.”

“Living in 3-D” is a helpful way of framing and redefining the task of evangelism – moving away from a programmatic approach towards an interpersonal and relational one. Fittingly, Hybels talks about the primary task of developing friendships, followed by the importance of listening and learning (the second “D,” discovering friendships), and then the task of following the lead of the Holy Spirit (the third “D,” discerning next steps).  His presentation is both heart-felt and full of emotional intelligence.

“The Power of Story” is another well-done section. The chapter devoted to each of us learning to tell our own faith story (“Your Own Before-and-After”) is practical and helpful. When it’s used with a small group in conjunction with the extremely funny and well-done scenes in the DVD, people will find that they can tell their own faith story both better and more easily. There are also some helpful “1-minute Gospel presentations” that can come in handy in real-life evangelistic situations. You don’t have to agree with everything Hybels says in order to appreciate him and benefit from his wisdom when it comes to sharing the Good News.

For the record, I bought copies of the book for my Evangelism Team, and we used the DVD in both our Sunday morning adult group and mid-week young adult discussion time. They were well-received across the board.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to Evangelism, by Bill Tenny-Brittian (Chalice Press, 2008)

A catchy title, but a more accurate one might be “An Exhaustingly Practical Guide to Evangelism.” This is probably not the book to help your mainline congregation warm up to evangelism (that would be Unbinding the Gospel). Nor is it the book to inspire you to refine and share your faith story (that would be Just Walk Across the Room). But it is a really useful resource if you’re looking for a wide variety of practical ways to share your faith.

The opening chapter tackles the issue of why we evangelize (or resist it, as the case may be). It’s a helpful diagnosis of the fears that often get in the way. Subsequent chapters then try to chart out a practical and helpful way forward through those fears. The key shift, and I think it’s a helpful one, is away from “stranger evangelism” and toward “friendship evangelism.” But that shift exposes an inherent and chronic weakness: Most Christians have a tendency to shrink their friendship networks over time (especially with non-church-goers).

Tenny-Brittain’s prescription for our shrinking relational networks? Getting ENOF (an Expanding Network Of Friends). In fact, the bulk of the book is a practical working out of his thesis. He directs us to practical ways of expanding our network of friends with the vendors we interact with, with colleagues at work, with family members at home, and in the broader cultural arena. Each chapter is chock-full of practical tips and possible to-do’s in each of those venues. Because of the “menu quality” of the writing in these chapters, I wouldn’t recommend reading the book straight through. It makes for tedious reading that way. But if you’re looking for a resource to read one chapter at a time with interested congregational leaders or an evangelism team in order to come up with some practical ideas for what you could do, this is a book worth having on your shelf.

The Ebenezer Education Committee is really excited about the upcoming Bible Game Show Extravaganza, which will be held Saturday afternoon, April 17, 1-3 pm, in the Dining Room and Gym. Here's a chance to test your knowledge in all sorts of Bible trivia. Games for ages 9 and up include Bible Outburst, Eden's Apples to Apples, Name That Hymn, Are You Smarter Than a Sunday Schooler, Go Fishers of Bible Heroes, and Go Mental Sacramental. Games for younger kids include Search the Ark, Walk on Water, Pin the Ear on the Roman Soldier, Shoot Goliath, and Walk in the Wilderness. The event is free, although snacks and drinks will be for sale. Also, prizes will be awarded!

Questions? Want more information? Get in touch with Pr Carla Thompson Powell--revctp@aol.com, 773-561-8496, x103.

“I'm considering a book study for this Lent, where the congregation would all read a book together and I would comment on chapters/ideas during Wednesday night worship, or perhaps the Sundays during Lent. Any suggestions? And why you suggest that title?”

Here are the responses he received:

From Pastor Nathan Anderson (All Saints, Fox Lake):
“Last Lent we included Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea in both the book & video format. Greg's approach is both global & intimate, a Christian witness filled with respect and compassion, very tangible and humble, yet courageous and unrelenting. He has been able to comprehend a foreign culture and religion in ways that governmental strategists have not explored, and now the Pentagon & politicians seek Greg's guidance. Would that any of us have such impact! I'm currently reading his follow-up book: Stones into Schools." 

From Pastor Sue Beadle (Christ, Vernon Hills):
“I recommend Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence, and Power by N. Graham Standish. It may be a book that works better in small group settings. Very meaty, but excellent. I'm leading the council through it now. I also liked The Honest to God Church by Doug Bixby.”

From Pastor Bob Davis (Holy Cross, Libertyville):
“Peter Gomes....The Good Life and The Good Book are both good reads that I have used with different sized groups and have generated some good thoughtful conversation. Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity will stir the soul and mind. Another good read that we used with an interfaith group of about 175 Muslims, Jews, and Christians is Jonathan Sacks book The Dignity of Difference. He is the chief rabbi for Great Britain. I also used this book with a group of 40 when we traveled to the Holy Land and found a number of Palestinians that we met who had read the same book. It provided a nice platform for quality discussion. I personally enjoy some of the Living the Questions material. The first video series is a 21-part series of which you could select some for the Lenten series and maybe continue with the others in the summer for a different kind of sermon series. Finally, The Parables is a great series by Compass Films with small-group material that could easily be adapted to a mid-week series. We are looking at the The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller and the Book of Faith Initiative's Lenten Journey...40 Days with the Lord's Prayer.”

From Pastor Dawn Mass (Messiah, Wauconda):
“For a book on spiritual practices, I would suggest Marjorie J. Thompson's Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life–very practical, readable, inspiring, and filled with great quotes! A group study guide is included.”

From Pastor Richard Holmer (St James, Lake Forest):
“We had a good response to Henri Nouwen’s book Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life.”

From Pastor Brad Davick and Pastor Caroline Satre (St Paul, Waukegan):
“Here are a few things we've used:
Reclaiming the L Word by Kelly A. Fryer: A good read by a great storyteller that helped our folks explore what it really means to be ‘Lutheran’ in today's context.
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren: Won't recommend this. We did this the year 'Purpose' was everywhere. Given that the book was everywhere and we knew people would read it, we decided we'd rather have them read it with us than with someone else, to maintain the integrity of Lutheran theology. We wrote our own material as a study guide to go along with the readings.
If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg: Another great storyteller. Used the book to help people have conversation on change and strategic decisions we faced.
Real Faith For Real Life by Mike Foss: A felt need for spiritual growth had been identified. We had a retreat-style worship using movie clips (Armageddon, Bruce Almighty, Wizard of Oz, e.g.) to teach the marks of discipleship for people who strive to live as followers of Jesus.
We’ve done Why Christian? by Douglas John Hall: Good stuff, but a tough read.
Nooma videos by Rob Bell: We've used assorted Bell videos the last two years and they are fantastic; people loved them!
This year we're doing ‘Luther and Les Miserable.’ It's in the development phase currently; thematically it's going to be a Law/Gospel, Grace/Suffering focus.”

From Pastor Don Wink (Atonement, Barrington):
“We're doing Tim Keller's The Prodigal God. It rocks. Plus they have small group discussion guides, etc. and a great bulk purchase rate direct through Zondervan. Last year, we did Faith and Doubt by John Ortberg. Also very solid, but there were no support resources (may or may not be by now), so we wrote our own stuff.”

From Pastor Ellen Arthur (St Stephen, Antioch);
“So many good books to consider! I'd like to add one more to the list: An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor (‘concrete ways to discover God in the small things we do and see’). Chapters that can be read independently include ‘The Practice of Paying Attention,’ ‘The Practice of Getting Lost,’ and ‘The Practice of Saying No.’”