Social Ministry, Social Justice – STRATEGIES
Part of the ministry resources on Christian Social Ministry, Social Justice
- Creating Congregational Readiness for Christian Social Ministry, Social Ministry
- Generating Ideas and Enthusiasm for Christian Social Ministry, Social Justice
- Choosing the Right Social Ministry Strategy for Your Congregation — Structured Programs
- Choosing the Right Social Ministry Strategy for Your Congregation — Less Structured Programs
- Related Ministry Resources
Creating Congregational Readiness for Christian Social Ministry, Social Justice
- Laurie Beshore, Love Without Walls: Learning to Be a Church in the World for the World (Leadership Network Innovation Series) – An inspiring account of the 25-year journey of Mariner’s Church in Irvine, California in reaching their community through what has grown into a team of over 7,000 compassionate volunteers.
- Ronald Johnson, From the Outside In: Connecting to the Community Around You – While the guides below are helpful in mobilizing churches into their communities, most church leaders will experience continual frustration if they do not address how their congregational DNA, or personality, either enhances or inhibits their capacity to connect. At some point, sooner better than later, churches must address this. This is a great tool for that purpose.
- Heidi Unruh and Ronald Sider, Saving Souls, Serving Society: Understanding the Faith Factor in Church-Based Social Ministry — Helps churches distinguish between faith-based social action and secular activism through a qualitative case-study of fifteen churches that are active in both evangelism and social action. Companion to Churches that Make a Difference, that draws on the case studies to offer a more prescriptive plan for holistic ministry.
Generating Ideas and Enthusiasm for Christian Social Ministry, Social Justice
First Read;
- Mae Elise Cannon and John Perkins, Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World – A socially conservative, one-of-a-kind resource, providing a compelling description of how Christian individuals and groups may make a difference in over 70 areas of social concern. Great for small groups or Sunday School classes who want to gain better understanding and generate action ideas.
Other Helpful Resources:
- Alvin C. Bibbs, Crazy Enough to Care: Changing Your World Through Compassion, Justice and Racial Reconciliation – Excellent 12-lesson small group study curriculum that helps awaken perspectives and practices for ministries in three areas of compassion, justice and reconciliation.
- Kevin Blue, Practical Justice: Living Off-Center in a Self-Centered World – Leads well-meaning readers into social ministry, with a focus on poverty, racism, and class struggles.
- Tony Campolo and Gordon Aeschliman, Everybody Wants to Change the World: Practical Ideas for Social Justice — A result of Campolo and Aeschliman’s observance of sacrificial acts of love through their travels in all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. The stories they chose are designed to challenge our notions about how to best serve need groups.
- Christian History and Biography Magazine Series, Building the City of God in a Crumbling World — Highlights the leading historical figures who addressed issues of social compassion and social justice.
- Julie Clawson, Tom Sine, and Christine Sine, Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of our Daily Choices – A practical, down-to-earth discussion of ideas for day-to-day living that brings social responsibility to the forefront
- Brandon Hatmaker, Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture – Presents a very balanced approach for a church to serve “the least of these” based on the author’s experience with Austin New Church in Austin, Texas.
- Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeler, The Justice Project – A large collection of brief, inspiring, conscience-awakening teaching vignettes, stories, and calls to action on an extensive list of local, national, and global justice issues.
- Mac Pier, Consequential Leadership: 15 Leaders Fighting for Our Cities, Our Poor, Our Youth and Our Culture – Pier tells the stories of 15 people such as Tim Keller, Richard Stearns, and others who have made a remarkable difference, many of them in the area of social ministry.
- Tim Stafford, Shaking the System: What I Learned from the Great American Reform Movements – Studies four significant American social reform movements of the past: abolition, prohibition, women’s suffrage, and civil rights.
- Susan Willhauck, Ministry Unplugged: Uncommon Calls to Serve – Explores out-of-the-ordinary expressions of the call to ministry, telling stories of passionate people involved in ministry in uncommon ways and places in order to spark congregational imagination.
- Audio Adrenaline, Hands and Feet: Inspiring Stories and First Hand Accounts of God Changing Lives – An inspiring story of the contemporary Christian music group’s work with an orphanage in Haiti, and their attempts to benefit that work through the Hands and Feet Project.
Choosing the Social Ministry Strategy that Fits Your Context — Structured Programs
Category 1: The following resources are good for highly pragmatic “Great Commission” churches that do not feel compelled to work through political overtones regarding social action, and simply need base level instruction, motivation, examples, guidelines, and developmental strategies to move beyond proclamation to incorporate more comprehensive demonstration of the Gospel. (See also, Less Structured Programs below)
Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church Series:
- Externally Focused Church Series Introduction
- Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Church
- Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw, The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community
- Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Life
- Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson, The Externally Focused Life Kit: Paperbacks and DVD/CD
Category 2: Evangelical churches that need more theological stimulation and must navigate political sensitivities should look at Tim Keller’s resources. This is not because Keller is politically aligned, but in fact he does a better job than most in a-politicizing social ministry. He addresses the respective roles of the church, family, and government in helping others, with an emphasis on the church. Two volumes are helpful.
- Timothy J. Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes us Just — Keller’s newest volume on the subject. He builds a theology of justice empowered by an experience of grace: a generous, gracious justice.
- Timothy J. Keller, Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road — A biblically balanced look at the subject written on the foundation of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Lays out clear biblical principles for mercy ministries (Part One), and presents a practical plan for churches to move into this dimension of service (Part Two).
Category 3: Churches that need a developmental, task-force/committee-oriented approach could certainly benefit from any of the above, but will appreciate the well-researched approach in the following work:
- Ronald Sider, Phil Olson, and Heidi Unruh, Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works – This is a comprehensive introductory guide for holistic ministry (i.e. integrating evangelism and social action) in congregations.
Category 4: Congregations needing to respond to significant demographic shifts in their surrounding with a more missional stance may need the Dudley-Ammerman series on faith-based community ministries.
- Carl Dudley and Nancy Ammerman, Congregations in Transition: A Guide for Analyzing, Assessing, and Adapting in Changing Communities — A well-researched, step-by-step guide for task forces assess the new realities of their mission environments and craft fresh and sustainable ministry models.
- Carl Dudley, Community Ministry: New Challenges, Proven Steps to Faith-Based Initiatives – Presents a very usable four-step process on laying foundations for effective community ministry: social context, congregational identity, organization for ministry, and partnerships.
Choosing the Social Ministry Strategy that Fits Your Context — Less Structured Programs
1. Steve Sjogren, Servant Evangelism Series and Robert Lewis and Rob Wilkins, Church of Irresistible Influence Series – Great for churches that are averse to a lot of organized congregational efforts, and simply want a grass-roots approach the unleash individuals for acts of service that draw others to God’s love.
Church of Irresistible Influence:
Sjogren, Servant Evangelism:
- Sjogren Servant Evangelism Series Introduction
- Steve Sjogren, Conspiracy of Kindness: A Unique Approach to Sharing the Love of Jesus. 15th Anniversary Edition – Presents the basic idea of servant evangelism.
- Steve Sjogren, Dave Ping, and Doug Pollock, Irresistible Evangelism: Natural Ways to Open Others to Jesus
- Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping, Outflow: Outward-Focused Living in a Self-Focused World
- Steve Sjogren, 101 Ways Series
2. David W. Crocker, Operation Inasmuch Series – This series takes a different angle. Inasmuch is for churches that find it more advantageous to begin with one-day missional projects and then, through Samaritan Way, migrate into more sustainable efforts and lifestyle changes.
Related Ministry Resources
See Other Ministry Resources on Social Ministry, Social Justice, and Urban Ministry:
- Social Ministry, Social Justice, Urban Ministry – INTRODUCTION
- Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry, Social Justice, Urban Ministry
- SPIRITUALITY for Social Ministry, Social Justice, and Urban Ministry
- STRATEGIES For Christian Social Ministry and Social Justice
- URBAN MINISTRY – Strategies For Social Ministry and Social Justice Among the Urban Poor
- Christian Perspectives on POLITICS and Church-State Relations
- Christian Perspectives on ECONOMICS and Public Policy
See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Christian Ministry: