Here are my book recommendations for the month when many families start a new school year, and most churches begin a new program year:
- (5) postChristian: What’s Left? Can We Fix It? Do We Care? by Christian Piatt (2014)
- (5) Next: Pastoral Succession That Works by Warren Bird and William Vanderbloemen (2014)
- (4.5) Rough Country: How Texas Became America’s Most Powerful Bible-Belt State by Robert Wuhtnow (2014)
- (4) Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul by Bill Hybels (2014)
- (3.5) YouTube for Churches: How to Make Better Videos, Grow Your Church and Reach More People with YouTube by Sean Cannell
So What?
Christian Piatt’s postChristian: What’s Left? Can We Fix It? Do We Care? and Warren Bird and William Vanderbloemen’s Next: Pastoral Succession That Works provided solid, relevant, and focused considerations of two significant concerns in the mainline: (1) knowing the changes that have and are happening, what should we do now? and (2) understanding that change can and will happen, what should we be doing to prepare for one of the biggest and most certain changes in the life of a given congregation: pastoral succession? While Piatt’s topic of choice is already a popular conversation topic, his book offers wisdom that can enrich and expand such while also pushing participants to move beyond intellectual ideas toward action. On the other hand, Bird and Vanderbloemen’s topic is one that receives far too little attention yet has incredible power to change the course of a congregation’s history.
- Share part of one of your most meaningful conversations about what it means to be the church in a postChristian era.
- Share an overview of your congregation’s pastoral succession planning for your senior/lead minister/pastor (or an awareness that no such plans exist).