Ronald Sider, Phil Olson, and Heidi Unruh, Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works. (Baker, 2002).
Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is a comprehensive introductory guide for holistic ministry (i.e. integrating evangelism and social action) in congregations. It compares well with Tim Keller’s Ministries of Mercy. Keller writes out of his experience of teaching and leadership at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, as to where this volume comes from a base in congregational research. Keller is probably better suited for small groups or Bible classes. This volume is a better fit for task forces or planning committees.
The research foundation for this text comes out of the Congregations, Communities, and Leadership Development Project of the late 1990s which explored the integration of evangelism and social action in fifteen congregations in the Philadelphia area (listed in the appendix). This study was funded by Lilly Endowment and Templeton Foundation, and was a cooperative effort by the authors, a host of researchers, an advisory council of local religious leaders, and consultants in congregational studies from Hartford Seminary Center for Social and Religious Research. It was housed at Eastern Baptist Seminary, and supported by the Evangelicals for Social Action.
The purpose of the book is “to help congregations develop more biblical, effective, dynamic holistic ministries.” (15) It is divided into three parts. Part 1 lays the theological basis for holistic ministry, emphasizing the need to make evangelism central and then integrate the essential evangelistic purpose of the church with social action. It describes the diverse ways holistic ministry expresses itself in a variety of congregations. Helpful supplements for theological grounding may be found in Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry. Part 2 describes the essential components of a holistic congregation (a complete overview appears on pp. 16-17). These include a love for God and neighbor, a commitment to reaching out beyond the walls of the church, spiritual and relational vitality within the congregation, a visionary leadership team, mission-centered organizational practices, and ministry partnerships. Part 3 describes how to make this work in a congregation in three tasks of developing a holistic ministry vision for one’s context, rallying support for the vision, and dealing with fears, change, and conflict in the congregation. A helpful overview in the introduction lays out three stages of how this develop typically plays out in congregations, and designates which chapters of the book are especially helpful at each stage.
From the Publisher
Churches over the past generations have been weakened by a failure to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of their communities. Many have adopted a narrow vision, focusing on only one aspect of ministry. But in today¹s environment of faith-based opportunities many Christians are eager to start reaching out to their world with both Good News and good works, and therefore they are searching for appropriate ways to integrate both into their ministry.
In Churches That Make a Difference, best-selling author Ron Sider and his coauthors give those involved in community outreach a comprehensive resource for developing holistic ministry‹a balance of evangelism and social outreach. Illustrations and helpful organizational tips detail the how-to¹s of an effective holistic ministry. Case studies that show how different churches across the United States reach out to their communities provide a variety of ideas and practical applications.
The authors draw on extensive experience with church ministries and faith-based organizations as they share the life-changing vision and biblical mandate for living the whole gospel. Church leaders will be encouraged in their process of developing and maintaining a holistic ministry, and local churches will rediscover a passion for loving the whole person the way Jesus did.
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See Other Resources on Social Ministry Strategies:
See Other Resource Guides on Christian Social Ministry:
- Social Ministry, Introduction
- Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry
- Spirituality for Ministry of Social Compassion and Justice
- Strategies For Christian Social Ministry
- Perspectives and Strategies For Social Ministry Among the Urban Poor, Urban Ministry
- Christian Perspectives on Political Theory and Church-State Relations
- Christian Perspectives on Economics and Public Policy
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